Bully Doggone Nightmare!
by Coloured Flames
Summary: It's not every day that Jimmy, Pete, Russell, Johnny, Derby, Bif, Ted, Peanut, Damon, and Zoe get turned into dogs. How did it even happen? Who's to blame for it?
1. Pitbull

_Jimmy's POV_

Jimmy Hopkins woke up feeling even more tired than he normally felt. Something was different. The room seemed a lot bigger, and the bed seemed a lot warmer.

_Ugh!_ He thought _does the room always smell this bad?_

Jimmy threw a glance down the side of the bed. Yikes! It was a long way down! Had he shrunk? Jimmy felt one of his ears twitch unnaturally, and he raised a hand to feel what was wrong. Well, he tried to. As soon as he raised the arm which was supposed to be his, he saw that something was terribly wrong. His arm was covered with pale ginger fur!

"WAAH!" Jimmy gave a shout of surprise when he saw that his hand was a paw. "What the hell?" he glanced around wildly, looking behind him. That wasn't his body…

_I'm dreaming…_ Jimmy assured himself. Because he couldn't have a tail in real life… Could he?

Pushing away the strong urge to bite his own tail, Jimmy leapt off his bed (which took a lot of effort) and attempted to walk to his mirror on two legs. Even if he didn't trip over painfully onto his nose, he would've still been too short to reach the handle of his closet.

"Damn this!" he growled underneath his breath. Literally, he growled. Jimmy lifted his fur-covered-paw-ended arm and stuck it in the crack between the closet door and the closet itself and pushed it open. He stared at his reflection in the mirror in absolute horror.

"Oh my god…" he mumbled, staring at the dog that stared back at him. When Jimmy raised a 'hand,' the dog rose it's paw. Jimmy lowered his head, the dog lowered his head.

"I'm a friggin' bulldog thing!" he howled, seeing the dog open it's red mouth at the same time he shouted.

Jimmy stared around, still trying to believe that it was all a dream. He hit his head against the wall, trying to wake up. Nothing happened.

"Hey Jim, what's with all the banging?" he heard someone call much louder than it would have normally sounded.

"Oh please don't come in…" Jimmy whined, running and hiding underneath his bed, which now seemed un-climbable.

He saw Trent walk into the room and look around.

"Jimmy?" the blonde bully called softly. Jimmy-dog thing covered his face with his white paws.

"What the…?" he heard the bully mutter, before the floor vibrated and he heard footsteps approach him.

When Jimmy removed his paws from his face, he saw Trent crouching down and staring at him in amazement.

"What you looking at?" Jimmy challenged.

What Trent heard; _woof, ark!_

"Hey Wade!" The blonde shouted, a grin beginning to tug at his lips, "I found a dog that looks like Jimmy!"

Jimmy heard someone else enter the room, and soon a red headed bully had his face underneath the bed. It was _Jimmy's_ private hiding place, so why were these two idiots here?

"Hey, a pit-bull terrier!" Wade shouted, "I have one at home!"

_At least I'm not a bulldog…_ Jimmy decided, relaxing only a tiny bit.

Trent held out his hand and stroked Jimmy's head.

"HEY!" The Bullworth 'King' protested.

But Trent and Wade only heard; _ARF!_

"He's a cool dog!" Trent laughed, stroking harder.

"No stop that!" Jimmy growled, but again all the bullies heard were dog barks and growls.

"I'm gettin' outta here!" the ginger dog whined, shooting through Trent and Wade's legs and heading for the door. Oh great! He couldn't reach the doorknob!

He sat down and stared intently at the door, hoping no one would see him.

No luck.

"Hey there's a dog in the dorm!" a little boy squealed. Jimmy looked over his shoulder to see Pedro running towards him, looking happier than Jimmy had ever seen him.

"You want to go out doggy?" Pedro asked, patting Jimmy's butt, much to his irritation. The Bullworth king perked up and nodded.

Pedro laughed and opened the door for him.

Jimmy was about to trot out when he remembered that he should thank the little kid for helping him.

_How do dogs thank people?_ He asked himself.

Jimmy just whacked Pedro with his tail before running across the schoolyard like a bullet. Someone had a lot of explaining to do…


	2. Cavalier

_Petey's POV_

Pete Kowalski woke up to light shining in his eyes, which was odd because his eyes were not normally this sensitive.

"What?" he mumbled, blinking sleep out of his eyes. Why did everything smell so strong? And his ears…

Pete raised his hand to feel them, trying to find out why they felt so long and droopy.

Only it wasn't his arm.

It was a white, fur colored animal leg, with a paw instead of a hand! Long fur flowed out of the back of his new arm, like dog fur.

"Oh my…" Pete whispered, leaping out of his bed and running to check himself out in the mirror. The floor was so close to his body, and he felt like he was running on four legs.

Trying not to wake Constantinos, his roommate, Petey squeezed into the closet and pushed open the door to let some light in.

"WHAT?" he yelped as he saw his reflection. He wasn't Petey anymore… he was a dog! A cavalier King Charles spaniel! He was horrified by his new look- small, long white fur, black ears and eye patches, a black spot on his back and a tail like a flag. He didn't really mind the appearance- if he was in a dream that is.

Pete barked at his reflection angrily, running in a circle to try and shake off the body that wasn't his. All the thudding awoke Constantinos.

"Pete?" the pessimist asked sleepily. Petey stopped running in circles and froze, looking like a rabbit in the headlights.

Const. finished rubbing his eyes and stared at the fluffy dog near the closet.

"How'd you get in here?" he mumbled, confused. 'Tinos swung his legs out of the bed and approached Petey slowly, crouching down so he wouldn't scare him away.

Pete shifted uncomfortably and his flag-like tail dropped in between his legs without his permission. He started to quiver.

"I'm not gonna hurt you!" Const. assured, patting his 'roommate' softly on his head.

_That feels nice…_ Petey thought, pushing his head further into his friend's hand. Wait! He snapped out of his little stupor and shook his head wildly.

"Can't you see me as a human, Constantinos?" Petey cried "am I really a dog?"

But all Pete's roommate heard were high-pitched barks and whines.

"Shush puppy, or someone's gonna hear you!" Constantinos hissed, withdrawing his hand.

"I'm _not_ a puppy!" Pete yowled, his tail lifting automatically. Const. backed away and threatened "Please don't attack me, I don't wanna hurt you."

Petey lowered his tail and directed his gaze at the door. He was going to get out of the dorm and try to find Jimmy. The small dog/human suddenly shot out of the room like a comet.

"Hey wait!" 'Tinos cried, looking around the room. But when he ran out of his room and into the hall, the little dog was nowhere to be seen.

Petey had managed to run through someone's legs when they opened the door, and now he was running like the wind toward the main schoolyard. He ran blindly, and crashed into something.

"Oh sorry!" he yelped, skittering backwards. He had crashed into… another dog? This dog had a slightly squashed face, pale ginger fur and small eyes.

"Jimmy!" Pete gasped.


	3. The curly tailed Preps

_Derby's POV_

_**RRRIIINNNGGG!**_

"OW!" Derby cried, being jolted awake by his alarm. Was it always that loud? He lifted his head up from his pillow and swiped his tongue across his lips.

"What in the name of Harrington?" He yelled when he felt not smooth skin, but fuzzy fur beneath his tongue. Derby directed his gaze to his paw. _Wait, PAW?_ Derby could barely tear his eyes off his new hand. What was going on? Was this some kind of dream?

Derby leapt off his bed and tried to run on two legs to his mirror, but he just tripped over and landed on his side.

"Ow…" he whined, scrambling back up. He tried again and again, but the result was the same- he kept on falling over after a few steps.

"Oh dam this!" Derby growled, running on all fours (which was surprisingly comfortable) the rest of the way to his mirror.

_Darn, why has the mirror randomly gotten taller?_ The 'prep' thought to himself. He had to jump up on the chair to see his reflection. Derby soon wished he hadn't looked.

"AAAH! BIF? BIF, COME HERE THIS INSTANT!" He howled when he saw the canine face staring back at him. Derby now had fluffy grey and silver fur that was very sleek, slightly fat cheeks and dark amber eyes. He turned his head and looked behind him. His shoulders jutted out weirdly from his back, and his tail looked like a croissant. Derby tried to twitch his tail, and nearly fell off the chair when it _actually_ moved! Something very weird was going on!

_Bif's POV_

Bif, like Derby, had been woken up by the painfully loud wring of his alarm clock. He had slammed what he thought was his hand on the clock, but when he opened his eyes, expecting to see his muscular human arm, he saw a red and cream dog leg. He had fallen off his bed with shock, and when he had gotten up and looked behind him, he saw that his body was that of a furry dog's. His tail was curled and the fur on it stuck up in all directions. Bif had rushed over to his mirror and stared at his reflection.

It's not that he was a bad looking dog; in fact he was very handsome. But that wasn't the point- he was a _dog!_ Not Bif Taylor the boxing champion, but a filthy, dirty, curly-tailed _dog! _How was he supposed to go to school like this, how was he supposed to _box_ like this?

When Derby had let out a terrified scream and called his name, Bif had barely heard. He was far too busy staring at his face. If there was one thing Bif was happy with about his new appearance, it was that his eyes had stayed the same, emerald green color.

He tilted his head to one side and flicked his dog ears. The dog in the mirror did the same, tilting it's head in the same direction and flicking it's ears at the same time.

"Wow…" Bif mumbled, seeing the dog shift it's mouth at the same time he spoke.

"Derby, I'll be right there!" the boxing-champ-who-is-now-a-dog called, remembering that his friend had screamed his name. Bif tore his eyes away from his mirror and galloped into Derby's room on muscular dog legs and slightly big, flat paws.

_Derby's POV_

While Bif was checking his new self out in the mirror, Derby was doing the same. If Derby winked, the dog winked, if Derby shouted an insult at the dog, the dog shot an insult back at the same time.

He had heard a bark from the room next to his - someone had called 'Derby I'll be right there' in a dog bark… but Derby had understood.

"Derby?" he heard someone ask. Derby glanced at his door, expecting to see the tall boxer standing there. What he did_ not_ expect was a dog with a curly tail. At the sight of the mutt at his door, Derby seemed to forget his condition and leapt onto his bed.

"Get out of my room you filthy savage!" He barked. (Literally)

"A talking dog!" The dog screamed, skittering backwards on big paws. The other dog had dark red fur with cream legs, cream chest, cream stomach, a cream muzzle and a tiny cream spot underneath his curled tail. Wait, curled tail?

Derby turned around and saw why those words had rung a bell- he had a curled tail as well.

"Bif?" Derby asked softly when he had turned back around.

The red dog stopped skittering backwards and turned his head to look at his tail, like Derby had done. "Derby?" he whimpered, green eyes gleaming with what was probably horror.

Derby stared at his reflection again. He looked a bit like Bif, only with silver legs, silver stomach, silver muzzle and a silver chest. He was grey everywhere else, and he was a little bit smaller than his friend. He felt his tail wag slightly with anticipation. It felt really odd, to have something that moved with your emotions at the tip of your butt.

"So… what do you think happened?" the deep red dog asked, moving a bit closer. Derby heard a bark, but somehow at the same time he heard Bif's voice speak the question clearly. This was confusing!

Derby shrugged his annoyingly big shoulder blades. "This better just be a dream!"

Suddenly, there was the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs.

Bif froze and leapt up onto the bed besides Derby and stood in front of him, quivering slightly.

"Derby!" a human voice called from outside the room, slowly getting closer. Derby ordered Bif to get out of the way, which he did, slinking off to stand behind the prep leader.

"You're getting your paws all over the blankets!" Derby hissed in disgust.

"So are you!" Bif argued back.

They were both still snapping at each other when Tad Spencer walked into the room.

"Hey Derbs, can I borrow…" Tad froze when he saw the two dogs lying on Derby's bed.

"WH-what?" the smaller prep mumbled, taking a step back. Bif blinked innocently and Derby sat up.

"Can't you see I'm trying to argue with Bif here?" The grey and silver dog asked sarcastically.

'_Woof, sniff, sniff, woof!'_ was all Tad heard.

"Get out of Harrington House!" He screamed, picking up a newspaper from Derby's desk and rolling it up.

"What are you doing?" Bif barked when Tad advanced on them with the newspaper.

"Stop barking!" the human yelled, slamming the newspaper on Bif's nose.

"OW!" the red dog yelped. "That hurt you idiot!"

_WOOF! Arr, Arrrrr, ARF! _

"Get out of here!" Tad yelled, this time swinging the paper at Derby. It hit him in the side of the head and knocked him off the bed.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Derby screamed when he had picked himself off the floor.

"Get out!" Tad screamed, this time hitting Derby in between the eyes. The grey dog yelped and ran out of the room.

"Run for your lives!" he howled before he disappeared out the door.

_Bif's POV_

Bif was left alone in the room with angry Tad and a rolled up newspaper- not a good combination.

"I'm coming Derby!" he cried, running around Tad and out the door. The prep had managed to whack Bif on the shoulders before he got out of the room.

Bif practically fell down the stairs because he was running too fast and still hadn't worked out how to use all his legs properly, and they had recently been polished.

He saw that the door leading out to freedom was open, but Chad was leaning against it and talking to someone. Bif skidded across the floor when he tried to stop himself, and the polished floorboards worked as a kind of ice.

"Make way!" the curly-tailed dog yowled, but of course all the people heard was a lot of barking.

Bif crashed full blast into someone who he thought was Bryce.

"Argh, you ruined my new pants!"

"Sorry!" Bif apologized in a puff, before running out of Prep Area completely. Where was Derby?

Bif stopped when he got to the fountain and took a deep breath through his nose. He could smell him. Yes, he could actually _smell_ the prep leader! By the smell of it, Derby had fled around the fountain and into the main yard.

As Bif was running past the autoshop, something crashed into his roughly from the side. He fell from the impact of it, and he rolled a few times and crashed into the fountain wall.

"Watch where you're going!" Bif growled, lifting his head to see who had crashed into him. He didn't need to. The smell had already told him.

Bif had been crashed into by a German shepherd with shiny fur and dark brown eyes. The shepherd gave out the smell of petrol, hair-gel, grease and metal, a smell Bif could detect even when he was a human.

"_Greaser_…" Bif snarled.


	4. Greasy fur

_Johnny's POV_

Johnny Vincent was having the randomest dream. He had a tail, which kept on tickling his nose, and he kept on trying to bite it, but when he did it really hurt! He would run around in circles and bite his tail again and again, only to feel pain shoot through him. So why did he keep doing it?

"Stop it!"

Johnny yelped himself awake when he had accidently bitten too hard on his tail in the dream. But something was still tickling his nose…

Johnny sneezed awkwardly and opened his eyes. Everything was really blurry.

"Quit tickling me…" he mumbled sleepily, attempting to swat whatever was touching his nose away. It didn't work, and that was when Johnny realized the position he was in.

"I didn't fall asleep like this…" he slurred, looking around as if he was drunk.

He was curled into a ball, lying on his stomach with his hands next to his face and his hips curled into his stomach. He was lying down like a sleeping dog! And why was something still tickling his nose?

"Oh cut it out!" Johnny yelled, finally not feeling sleepy anymore. Without his own permission, his head lashed out and he snapped his mouth down on whatever was tickling him.

"Ow!" Johnny cried, sitting up. It had really hurt when he had bitten into the thing in front of him!

Johnny suddenly felt very small. His room in the autoshop was never _this_ big! And it smelled very strongly of grease and oil, much stronger than the room would normally smell.

"Johnny!" A distressed voice called from another room. He heard a small stampede of footsteps on the concrete floor, and the door to his room swung open further. Johnny stared when a German shepherd ran into the room, tail between it's legs and it's ears pulled back.

It jumped up into the bed with Johnny and stared intently at him.

"Get off my bed!" The greaser king shouted, pushing the dog's face away with his hand.

"Crud! A paw! I have a paw!" he screamed, holding his so-called 'hand' in front of his face.

And then something amazing happened. The German shepherd spoke in fluent English with a familiar squeaky voice and Italian accent.

"Not you too, Johnny?" it asked, eyes narrowing in concern.

"You can talk?" Johnny gasped, taking in the dog's appearance more carefully. He was brown with a black muzzle and black paws. Darker brown patches ran along his body in random places. His eyes were dark brown, and Johnny would recognize them anywhere…

"Peanut?" he asked.

The dog nodded. "We're dogs Johnny…"

"_WE'RE?_"

Peanut nodded sadly. "You are too. You're a shepherd like me."

"How did this happen? Am I dreaming? Is this some kind of prank?"

"I wish it was Johnny." Peanut sighed and lay down, resting his head on his paws. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Johnny wasn't listening. He had turned his head and was watching is tail twitch with great interest. Suddenly he lunged forwards and tried to bite it.

"Johnny what the hell?" Peanut yelled, stifling a massive laugh.

Johnny stopped chewing on his tail and blinked guiltily. "What am I doing wrong?" then he resumed biting himself.

"Stop biting your tail!" the other dog ordered.

"Okay, I'll bite yours." Johnny decided, pawing Peanut's tail closer to his mouth and nibbling on it.

Peanut yanked his tail out of Johnny's mouth and frowned good naturedly. "You can't chew _a_ tail, full stop!" He laughed.

When Johnny started chewing on Peanut's tail again, he just gave up.

"Ok, so what are we going to do?" The shepherd asked, the tip of his tail twitching with slight irritation.

Johnny shrugged and mumbled something into his friend's tail.

"What?" Peanut yelled.

"I said I don't know, Larry!" Johnny yelled back, lifting his head and staring him straight in the eye.

"Peanut, not Larry." The other dog muttered, his left ear twitching. Johnny resumed biting Larry's tail.

"What if someone comes in?" Peanut asked.

"We run." Johnny replied, his voice muffled by the tail.

"Where to?"

"The fountain, and then I'll give directions from there."

"Johnny, you don't seem worried about this at all?" Peanut shifted his paws.

"I'm not. Where'll worrying get us?" Johnny stopped biting Larry's tail and jumped off the bed.

"Where are you…?" Peanut began.

"I'm just gonna get out of the autoshop incase someone comes in."

Peanut jumped off the bed as well. "Can I come?"

Johnny turned his head and his dog lips turned up in a kind of smile. "Of course!"

Larry felt his tail wag by itself as he followed Johnny out of the room.

_Peanut (Larry's) POV_

They probably would've been able to sneak out of the autoshop unnoticed if it hadn't been for the Greaser King's queen- Lola.

"Oh my gosh there are animals in the area!" Peanut heard someone shriek.

_Animals?_ Larry thought._ Does that mean us?_

The two German shepherd's turned around to see Lola screaming and pointing at them.

"Shut… up…" Peanut growled.

"Don't you tell her to shut up!" Johnny shot back.

There was a kerfuffle of human voices.

"Hey look, dogs!"

"Johnny there are dogs in here!"

"Where the heck is Johnny?"

Johnny's head snapped up and he seemed to forget that he was a dog. "Here!" he shouted.

_WOOF!_

"What's his problem?" Lola asked, looking in disgust at Johnny. Ricky walked up beside her and stared at the two dogs. He approached them cautiously.

"Pretend you're a dog." Johnny hissed.

"…We are dogs." Peanut replied.

Johnny glared at him.

Ricky held out his hand in front of him as if he expected the dogs to bite him.

Larry didn't know why, but when Ricky was about two meters away from them his tail started wagging automatically.

"Hey, your tail is hitting me!" Johnny grumbled. But his tail started wagging as well.

"Good dogs!" Ricky breathed when he was about a foot away from Johnny.

"Human! Not dog!" Johnny corrected, maybe a little bit too fiercely.

_WOOF, WOOF ARF!_

Ricky took a step back. "Bad dog." He muttered.

"Am not!" Johnny shot back, taking a step forward. He probably would've stalked right over to Ricky and given him a piece of his mind if Larry hadn't grabbed Johnny's tail in his jaws.

"OW!" the Greaser King yelped, turning his head and glaring at Peanut.

"Come on, we should leave before you bite someone!" the second-in-command told his leader. Johnny nodded, throwing one last glance at Ricky, Lola and a few other greasers who had gathered before running out of the autoshop.

Peanut was ahead of Johnny, loping on his four legs. It was a really weird run; his chest and forelegs seemed to go up when his hindquarters were down, and then they would swap positions when his front paws had touched the concrete. It reminded Larry of wolves.

He was nearly at the fountain when he crashed into something soft and was sent keeling over backwards.

He shook his head clear of stars and glared at the thing he had crashed into. It was another dog- tall, red and cream with a curly tail that Larry wanted to bite. It had bright emerald eyes and massive paws- it reminded him of a certain prep he would rather not think about. The other dog must have tripped and rolled into the fountain when Peanut had crashed into him, because he was scrambling to his paws right next to the fountain wall.

"Greaser!" the dog insulted, in Bif Taylor's exact voice.

"Taylor?" Peanut asked. The dark-red dog nodded. Johnny ran up besides Larry and asked "What's going on here?"

Peanut felt his tail lift for no particular reason. "It's that rich dirt bag Bif."

Johnny's tail lifted as well, and he bared his teeth. "You're a dog now, huh? I have to say it's an improvement!"

"You keep your dirty-dog-mouth shut or I'll shut it for you." Bif threatened, his tail rising slightly but still staying curled. Johnny took a step forward. Bif took a step forward. Peanut was about to take a step forward when a grey and silver blur shot out of no where and knocked him down.

_Johnny's POV_

Johnny took his eyes of Bif and turned to see what was happening behind him. Peanut and another dog were swinging their forelegs at each other, as if to try and throw a punch.

The other dog looked like Bif only a bit smaller, and with grey and silver fur. Its eyes were amber, like the prep-leader's.

Suddenly the grey dog with the curly tail rose on its hind legs and started jabbing at Larry with its paws. Peanut took a step back and the dog on its back legs, who know had nothing to balance with, toppled over.

"Greaseball!" The dog shouted in Derby Harrington's voice.

"You shut up!" Peanut snarled back.

Bif, who had finally realized he could do something, came up behind Johnny and did some kind of tackle to him. The snarling German shepherd collapsed beneath the other dog's weight, but managed to kick his back leg at the Prep's face. Bif retaliated with a bark, and he jabbed his foreleg at Johnny in a failed punch.

"Dogs don't punch, douche!" Peanut insulted from the other side of the fountain. Suddenly there was a lot of shouting coming from the football field.

Johnny turned to see what the problem was.

Two dogs were running at full speed with their tails in between their legs, and they were being chased by nearly the whole football team. One of the dogs had a Frisbee in its mouth.

The dog with the Frisbee was white with black ears and black spots. He wasn't a Dalmatian though. The other dog was brown with black ears and a black stripe on his head.

"Pointers." Peanut said randomly.

"What?" Bif asked, forgetting about the fight.

"They're pointers, the dogs." Larry answered.

Derby nodded. "Hey, don't you think the one with the Frisbee kind of looks like…?" he began.

"Ted?" Johnny finished for him.

"Yeah." Derby mumbled, looking angry when the greaser got it right.

As the 'pointers' (as Peanut called them) drew closer, Johnny thought; _that rich fleabag was right! That dog does kind of look like Ted. And the other one looks like Damon._

The pointers finally reached Johnny, Peanut, Derby and Bif, panting heavily.

"This is your doing!" the brown one yelled at the other. "If you hadn't decided to steal that Frisbee from Kirby, none of this would be happening!"

"Well if you hadn't pointed the Frisbee _out_ to me, I wouldn't have chased it!" The other one dropped the Frisbee argued back. The white one had Ted's voice all right, and Ted's pale blue eyes.

The brown one sounded a lot like Damon, only with a voice that was a little bit higher, and his eyes were more like a honey color then chocolate brown.

Johnny noticed the Jocks getting closer. "Hey, you two." The quarrelling dogs looked up at him. "It looks like your enemies are getting closer."

"Oh great." Damon the dog puffed, running in the direction of the main schoolyard.

"You ain't leaving without me!" Ted shouted after him, picking up the Frisbee. He tilted his head towards the other dogs. "Maybe you should come…"

Bif and Derby tagged after him, leaving Peanut and Johnny alone with Jocks getting closer.

"Wanna go with them?" Peanut asked. Johnny nodded.

_What a weird morning!_ Johnny thought as he ran._ First I wake up as a dog, find out Peanut is a dog, develop an obsession with my tail, go outside and find out Bif and Derby are dogs, see Ted and Damon (as dogs) about to get attacked by their own clique because Ted stole Kirby's Frisbee._

_I'm sure having a retarded dream!_


	5. POINT!

_Ted's POV_

Ted Thompson woke up in the clubhouse to a brown dog staring at him.

"Get out of here!" he shouted.

The dog opened its mouth in horror. Now that Ted looked closer, the dog looked a lot like Damon…

"Wait, don't go."

"Why can you talk?" The dogs asked. Yes, the brown dog _spoke_.

Ted scrambled into sitting position and stared. "Why can _you_ talk?" he challenged.

"Because I'm a human." The speaking dog replied matter-of-factly.

"No… you're a dog."

"Stop lying!"

"I'm not! Look at yourself!"

"Shut up you stupid dog!"

"You have the nerve to call _me_ a dog?"

The brown dog snickered.

_What's he mean by that?_ Ted thought. He directed his gaze at a half-shattered mirror resting against the wall.

The dog was right. Ted was turned into a dog!

"AAAAAAH!" Ted howled, "I'm a dog! I'm a dog like you!"

"No need to try make yourself feel better." The other dog sniffed indignantly.

"No, you really are a dog!"

"Don't talk crap."

"Oh shut your trap and look in the mirror!"

The speaking dog sniffed and turned his head toward the mirror. Ted almost found it funny when the dog's eyes nearly popped out of his head.

"Ok, now that you believe me," Ted asked "who are you?"

"It's Damon." The dog mumbled, not taking his eyes off the mirror.

"DAMON? DAMON WEST?"

"Oh, so you're not only a talking dog, you're a psychic dog. I get it now." Damon hissed sarcastically, glaring at Ted.

"No, I'm Ted!"

"Who's Ted?"

Ted felt his tail (which was short) drop in disbelief. "Are you _serious_ man? I'm the football team's quarterback!"

"OH-OOOOH!" Damon cried, looking embarrassed.

_Idiot._ Ted thought.

_Damon's POV_

_Now what are we supposed to do? _Damon wondered. He spoke his thoughts to 'Ted.' Damon didn't really want to believe the dog in Ted's bed (lol that rhymes) was actually the football team's quarterback. He didn't really want to believe that he had been morphed into a dog. He didn't really want to believe that he couldn't play football as a dog. But he had to.

Ted didn't know the answer to Damon's question.

"We should go outside, see what the teams up to." He suggested, leaping off the bed, stomach fur flowing. Damon nodded and they trotted outside.

The team members were in their usual positions; Juri and Bo were running around the football field, Casey and Luis were doing some weird aerobic dance, Mandy and the other cheerleaders were cheerleading and Kirby and Dan were passing a Frisbee to each other. Damon watched the cheerleaders with interest until he realized that Ted had gone ahead of him. He loped after the football captain irritably.

"Couldn't you slow down a bit? I wanna watch the team."

"Don't you mean the cheerleaders?" Ted teased, his floppy ears flicking up and down like a suggestive eyebrow wiggle.

"Oh shut up man." Damon mumbled, falling into step next to Ted.

Damon flicked his honey-colored eyes around at each group in the field. Now that he looked properly, that Frisbee Kirby was holding looked kinda fun…

"Hey Ted, you see the Frisbee that Kirbs is holding?" Damon asked, pausing for a moment.

Ted froze. His ears went up in interest and he watched Dan catch the Frisbee, waiting for him to throw it back to Kirby.

"Uh, Ted?" Damon asked, confused. "You ok there?"

Suddenly Ted shot forwards. He was even faster on four legs than he was as a person.

"What are you doing?" Damon howled.

Ted didn't answer, he just kept on running until he reached Kirby, who had caught the Frisbee and was about to throw it back. As he swung his arm backwards, a dog called Ted latched onto the toy.

_Kirby's POV_

It was very surprising when Kirby had swung his arm backwards and a dog had leapt out of nowhere and tried to take his Frisbee.

"Get off!" Kirby shouted, giving the toy a tug in his direction. The dog tugged the toy back. It was like a very serious game of tug-o-war. The dog obviously meant business. Kirby lifted his leg and kicked the dog away. It yelped and let go of the Frisbee, but came back again about three seconds later. Kirby heard Dan shout something and another dog bark from somewhere. Kirby turned his head and saw a brown dog leap at the white one. The impact from the two dogs made him let go of the Frisbee.

"Stupid dog! Give that back!" he shouted, lunging for the Frisbee.

_Ted's POV_

A great feeling of excitement coursed through Ted's dog body when Kirby lunged at him. He jumped out of the way, his tail wagging insanely. He couldn't control it. It was as if the short tail had a mind of its own.

"Can't catch me!" Ted barked. He caught a glimpse of Damon glaring at him disapprovingly.

"You idiot!" Kirby insulted, making another swipe for the toy in Ted's mouth.

"It's _MY_ Frisbeeee…" Ted hissed back, exaggerating the _'e'_ sound in the word Frisbee.

Suddenly Dan football tackled Ted, making the dog yelp in surprise and irritation. The red-headed Jock grabbed the Frisbee and tried to tug it out of the dog's mouth. "Stupid mutt won't let go!"

Ted was about to open his mouth and tell Dan that he wasn't a mutt when Damon jumped on the Jock's back. The brown dog clamped his mouth down on Dan's shoulder.

"AH! He bit me!" Dan yelped, letting go of the Frisbee and trying to shove Damon away.

"When I say now, we run toward the fountain, ok?" Damon yelled into Dan's shoulder. Ted nodded.

"Now!"

Ted ran in a random direction.

"No Ted, you're going the wrong way!" Damon yowled, following the other dog anyway.

_Which way was the fountain again?_ Ted thought. He stopped running and glanced around.

"Um… um, um…" he mumbled, turning in a circle quickly. "POINT!" he shouted unnecessarily, striking a very strange pose as he faced the stairs leading to the fountain; his right forepaw was lifted off the ground and bent at the ankle, his tail stuck straight out behind him and his eyes stared unblinkingly ahead at the staircase.

By now pretty much the whole football team was getting ready to wipe the dogs all over the grass.

"To the fountain!" Damon shouted, snapping Ted out of his random trance.

The dogs ran for their lives and Ted still had the Frisbee.

"Oh will you drop that thing already?" Damon snarled.

"NO!"

"Do it!"

"Make me!"

"Hey are there other dogs over there?" Damon asked when they were halfway to the fountain.

"I… think so. It looks like there are four of them."

As Ted and Damon grew closer, Ted saw that two of the dogs were clean looking 'Japanese Akitas' (a breed he had taken a liking to in fourth grade) and the other two were German shepherds with dark, shiny fur. All four of them were staring as Damon and Ted galloped in their direction.

"This is your doing!" Damon yelled when they reached the other dogs. "If you hadn't decided to steal that Frisbee from Kirby, none of this would be happening!"

"Well if you hadn't pointed the Frisbee _out_ to me, I wouldn't have chased it!" Ted argued back.

"Hey, you two." Ted and Damon heard one of the dogs point out. "It looks like your enemies are getting closer."

"Oh great." Damon puffed, abandoning Ted and running in the direction of the main schoolyard. "You ain't leaving without me!" Ted shouted after him, picking up the Frisbee. When he was about to follow, he turned his head toward the other dogs. "Maybe you should come…" And then he chased after Damon. Ted heard the other dogs follow him. The first two were the Akitas.  
Ted blinked at them and one of them shouted "Where are we going, pauper?" Ted shrugged, making the dog scowl.  
"Who are you?" Ted asked the grey Akita.  
"Derby Harrington, who else?" He replied smugly.  
"You're an Akita huh? Lucky you, I love Akitas."  
"What in God's name is an 'Akita'?" Derby asked sounding very confused.  
Ted was a bit surprised. "It's the breed of dog that you are…"  
"Are they an English breed?" the other Akita asked, who Ted thought was probably Bif because of his red fur.  
The Jock got ready for some disgust from the Preppy dogs. "Well… no they're a Japanese breed…"  
"Ugh! I refuse to be anything but a rich English breed!" Bif rumbled, his ears going flat against his head.  
"Can it, rich-boy, or should I say 'Curly'?" taunted one of the German shepherds in a slightly familiar voice. Ted thought he heard a slight Italian accent.  
"Are you Johnny?" he asked. The shepherd nodded, and the other dog with greasy fur ran up beside him.  
_Peanut._ Ted thought.

"So you and Damon got turned into dogs as well, huh?" the squeaky-voiced dog asked.

"Well duh!" Damon threw over his shoulder.

Suddenly Damon gave a deep yelp of surprise and bounced backwards like he had crashed into something. He fell on top of Bif who retaliated with a bark of rage, until he saw what Damon had crashed into.

Ted's eyes widened in horror and amazement.

Damon had crashed into a _massive_ white dog, at _least_ the size of a Bif and a half (in dog form of course) standing on top of each other.

The dog was a Great Dane obviously, and he had small eyes, a large chin and big muscles.

"Russell go BOOM?" The Great Dane shouted, tail wagging.


	6. Danes and Collies

_Russell's POV_

Russell, head of the Bully clique, woke up to the sound of a little kid screaming. He opened his eyes and saw the small boy pointing at him, still squealing in terror. He should be screaming! He had just woken Russell up!

"RUSSELL SMASH YOU!" Russell roared, jumping out of bed.

"AAAAH!" he yelled as he tripped over and landed on his face. Why was it so hard to walk all of a sudden? Russell saw the kid flee from the room as he stood up.

_Bad Russell._ He scolded himself._ Stop falling over._

Russell walked out of his room and into the Dorm's corridor. As soon as his head had left his room, everyone in the Boy's Dorm froze and stared at him.

"**WHAT**!" Russell rumbled.

_**WOOF!**_

Russell blinked, feeling more confused than he normally did. That wasn't his bark, was it?

_Russell isn't a dog._ He assured himself.

Was he?

"There's a horse in here!" Someone screamed, pointing at him.

"Russell is no horse." Russell snarled, turning around to see who had insulted him. But when he turned around, he saw that his body had changed into that of an animal's.

"Okay, maybe I am." He mumbled, watching his new tail.

"Wait, it's not a horse it's just a massive dog!"

_Zoe's POV_

Someone was screaming really loudly when Zoe Taylor woke up.

"What's going on?" she asked as she lifted her head from the pillow. Her roommate, Mandy Wiles was holding onto a hairbrush like a weapon and screaming.

"Shut up!" Zoe yelled, covering her ears with her hands. What the…?

Her ears were **not** human anymore- they were soft and silky, like dog ears! Zoe stared at her hands and saw white, furry paws. No wonder Mandy was screaming!

"Mandy, it's Zoe!" She cried, trying to calm the frantic cheerleader down. Mandy just screamed louder and swung her hairbrush at Zoe.

"Ouch!" Zoe toppled off her bed and caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror.

_A COLLIE? _She thought. _I'm a COLLIE? _What was going on?

Suddenly the woman who patrolled the Girl's Dorm at all times, Ms Peabody, walked into the room.

_Oh no._

"Get out of here you filthy mutt!" Peabody screeched.

Zoe rolled out of the way as the old, scary woman launched at her.

"Ha, missed!" Zoe barked cockily.

She pelted out of the room, down the stairs, out the door and made a run for the main yard.

_Russell's POV_

Russell barged through the doors so roughly that they nearly fell off their hinges.

_So Russell is a dog?_ He thought. _….. COOL!_

He galloped at full speed through the path that led to that place where the paths separated and led to either outside the school, the Girl's Dorm, the Boy's Dorm and the main yard. As Russell was running past the Girl's Dorm, someone crashed into him.

"Hey!" Russell huffed, turning to see who had crashed into him.

It was a Border collie with reddish-brown fur and pretty eyes. She was lying on her back and staring up at Russell in terror.

"Pretty dog." Russell said, holding out his hand and stroking the dog.

_Oh yeah._ He thought. _Russell no have a hand no more, Russell is Russell-dog now!_

"Wh-where am I?" asked the dog he had crashed into. She had a familiar voice.

"You crash into Russell, but it's ok!" Russell answered feeling is tail wag.

"I'm dreaming…" the female said. "I'm not a dog. You're not a talking dog…"

"Yeah I am."

"Wait, Russell?" she cried, flipping onto her paws. She blinked at him and cocked her head.

Russell nodded. "Who are you?"

"I'm Zoe…" The collie said, her tail wagging slightly.

Russell gave a bark of excitement before he could stop himself. "Zoe Tayloe?"

"It's… Taylor, actually."

"Russell sorry!" Russell's ears drooped and Zoe giggled.

"It's okay, you big ball of fur. But what are we gonna do now?" She asked looking around.

"Um…"

"Haha, not like _that_! I mean, we're both dogs, what are we gonna do?"

"We could go scare a Nerd?" Russell suggested hopefully.

"… Good thinking."

_Zoe's POV_

_Wow. Russell the Great Dane? _Zoe thought. _I never thought I'd see the day._

She could hear Russell pounding the concrete with his huge paws as he followed her. She smiled slightly to herself. As a dog, she could be a devil with an angel's face. She could scare everyone by leaping out and barking, she could bite people who annoyed her! If they threatened her, Russell would attack.

The two had become good friends when Jimmy had taken care of Gary a couple of weeks back. Speaking of Jimmy…

_Where is he?_ Zoe wondered. _I wonder if he's a dog as well…_

Russell and Zoe had nearly reached the library. They were underneath the archway that leads to it. Russell had gone ahead of Zoe, and suddenly he jumped backwards slightly.

There was a silence for a few seconds, before Russell shouted "Russell go BOOM?"

_Russell's POV_

A brown dog with floppy ears and long stomach fur had crashed into him.

"Hi." Russell greeted.

"H-hi." The brown dog mumbled, staring up at him. Russell saw that the dog had five other dogs standing behind him.

"Where did you find all of them?" Russell asked.

"They found us." The brown dog replied, chucking a glance at the other ones.

"You're tall." Said a grey dog with a curly tail

"Russell?" asked a German shepherd with tan fur, dark brown legs and a dark brown muzzle.

"Yeah." Russell replied, looking the shepherd up and down. "Are you…?"

"Johnny Vincent? Yeah." The dog replied before the Great Dane could finish.

Zoe picked that moment to step out from behind him. "So you guys woke up as dogs as well?" she asked.

"Are you Jimmy's girlfriend?" The other curly-tailed dog asked,

"Yeah, what's it to ya?" Zoe shot back.

"Pauper!" the red dog snarled, his curly tail fluffing out. One of the German shepherds gave a rumble of warning.

"You don't touch Russell's friend!" Russell snarled, his long, thin tail lifting in a way that meant business.

"Come on Bif, settle it." The grey curly-tailed dog ordered.

"Derby Har…ring…ton?" Zoe asked, her tail fluffing out as well. Derby snarled and Bif glared at her.

"If you're gonna have a fight, can you do it in your own time?" The white dog with floppy ears asked. "We should try and find Jimmy. Anyone want to come with?"

"Okay Ted." Answered the brown dog that had crashed into Russell.

_Those must be the Jocks._ Russell decided. _The German shepherds are probably the Greasers because of their Italian accents. The curly-tailed doggies are Preps, because Russell doesn't like them much._

_Zoe's POV_

"So-ooo…" Zoe mumbled awkwardly. "Where should we look for Jimmy?"

One of the German shepherds, probably Peanut, blinked his dark eyes and shrugged.

_Handsome dog…_ Zoe thought. _Snap out of it, Zoe!_

"Hey, who are they in the distance?" Bif asked.

Zoe turned around and saw two other dogs running towards them.

_MORE dogs?_ She thought in disbelief.

When the dogs reached the other dogs, she got a better look at them. One of them was a Pit-Bull terrier with short, pale ginger fur and small eyes, and the other one was a Cavalier with long white fur with black patches, and huge brown eyes.

"Well!" puffed the Pit-Bull, looking at all the other dogs. "How did this happen?"

"Jimmy…" whimpered the Cavalier, crouching down with submission when he saw Russell.

"JIMMY?" Zoe yowled, her tail going straight up in surprise.

Jimmy looked at her and shouted "Zoe? Why the heck are we dogs?"

"Ahem, if I could interrupt for a second?" one of the German shepherds asked, taking a step forwards. "That is what we all want to know. But before we find out, someone tell me; What are we gonna do next?"


	7. What to do?

_Petey's POV_

Jimmy and Petey had just run into a pack of assorted, speaking dogs. Before they had even gotten there Pete had felt afraid of a massive white Great Dane, and he had crouched down when he had gotten close. One of the German shepherds had asked the exact question that had been on Petey's mind- _What were they going to do next?_ "Well, I think that we should all act normal." One of the dogs with floppy ears said. Ted, probably. "Yeah? And where's that supposed to get us?" Jimmy challenged. "Some people at Bullworth aren't very fond with dogs." "Especially not dirty mutts like them!" one of the dogs said with an English accent, pointing his cream paw at one of the German shepherds. "Wanna say that to my face?" The shepherd challenged with a deep voice and an Italian accent. _Johnny and Bif, most likely_ Pete thought.  
Suddenly the Great Dane piped up asking "Can we go scare Nerd now?"  
"No Russell, not yet!" Zoe told him.  
"G-guys?" Pete mumbled. Everyone stared at him with expectant dog eyes. "Why do you… think that, you know…" he searched for the right words, "Got… turned into dogs?"  
"Pff, I don't give a flip about that." Claimed a dog who was probably Derby. "All I want to know is why I was turned into a Japanese Ak-whatsamicallit instead of an English setter or something…?"  
"Akita!" Ted corrected him, "and no one really cares about what breed you are!"  
"Back off athlete!" Snarled Bif, stepping protectively in front of Derby. Damon did the same for Ted, and both dogs stood glaring at each other for a moment before Petey gave a small groan of irritation.  
"Seriously, fight when we know why we were transformed!" he growled. Damon shrugged and sat down. Bif just shook his head and licked his jaw. Petey had to admit, that was a pretty dog-like move.  
"Any inspirations on where to go?" asked Zoe.  
"To scare a Nerd!" Russell whined impatiently.  
"I think that would be fun!" Peanut remarked, his tail wagging. Russell nodded and started to trot toward the library. He disappeared around a corner, and it wasn't long before Pete heard loud barks and surprised screaming. He could understand what Russell was saying though, even if he was barking:  
'_Guess what Nerds? Russell now has big teeth as well as muscle!'  
_Petey sighed and shook his head sadly.

When Russell had returned from his little play-area, Johnny looked like he was lost in thought. Petey waved his tail in front of the German shepherd's glazed eyes.  
"W-what?" Johnny mumbled, blinking a few times. "Oh sorry, I was just thinking about that Preppy's dog."  
Everyone's head snapped up and they all turned and stared at Johnny.  
"What?"  
"You mean Chester?" asked Derby. Johnny nodded.  
"Why were you thinking about him?" Bif challenged.  
Johnny shrugged. "I was just wondering if he knew anything about us turning into dogs… nothing much."

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes sparkling.

"Vincent," Jimmy said "you're a genius!"  
"Am I?" Johnny asked feeling very confused.  
"Yeah, is he?" Derby grumbled.  
"Come on then!" Zoe yelled, "Let's go ask… Chesty or something whether he knows anything!"  
"I'd be surprised if he didn't." Bif commented as they began to run toward Prep Territory. "Chester sees, like, everything."

"I sure hope so." Jimmy mumbled.

Petey sighed and hoped that the bad-tempered dog did know something.


	8. Chester

_No one in particular's POV_

The nine dogs all ran in a group- Ted and Johnny up the front with Bif and Damon right behind them. Behind Damon was Derby who ran next to Peanut who was running in unison with Zoe. Jimmy and Petey came next, with their shorter legs. Bringing up the rear was Russell, because even though he had four long legs he didn't quite know how to use them.  
"What if we can't communicate with Chester?" Bif asked.  
"Well, we'll just go into town and see what's happening at the Boxing Gym." Derby answered with confidence. Johnny snorted with laughter and turned his head.  
"Boxing Gym my paw! Do you think they'll be happy to see you there?"  
"Johnny look out!" Peanut warned. Too late, Johnny realized that a prefect was right in front of him. They both fell over with a thump.  
"EVIL DOER!" The prefect roared, not seeming to realize that a dog had crashed into him and not a human.  
Johnny, who was standing over the prefect, suddenly smirked. He bared his teeth and gave a ferocious-sounding bark. All of the color drained from the authority figure's face.  
"Who's afraid of big-bad Johnny?" Johnny sneered. Peanut watched Johnny's actions with interest. The prefect was genuinely terrified of him.  
The direction Larry was looking was unfortunately noticed by Bif.  
"Having a little look-over at your King over there, eh?" Bif teased, thrusting his head out and twitching his ears over to one side innocently. Peanut growled with anger and turned on the Akita, jabbing out with his left forepaw. Before Bif could strike back, the prefect started shouting and Johnny ran in the opposite direction, yelling something about leading the prefect away.

When Johnny and the prefect had disappeared, Derby led the way to Harrington House. All of the seven other dogs trotted after him like they owned the place, trying to mimic Derby's strutting gait. Luckily no one else noticed the dogs, and they reached Prep Area without much difficulty.  
"Someone go into the yard and see if that dog's there." Petey asked. He didn't want to take any chances about getting bitten.  
"Russell will do it?" Russell suggested, walking into the yard. Everyone else followed quietly. They didn't want to get unwanted attention from the Preps.  
"**There's a sleeping brown thing over there**!" Russell shouted.  
"Shhhh!" Damon hissed, the fur on his back rising automatically. Everyone listened for a few moments, but there was no sound.  
"Okay, luckily no one heard." Ted stated, giving Russell a blue-eyed glare. "Keep your voice down a bit, 'k?"  
Russell nodded, ears drooping.

A small, pale brown dog was asleep in the corner of the yard. It had very small eyes and a slightly oversized muzzle. When Russell decided to bark at it, it lifted its head and blinked sleepily.  
The first dog it noticed was Derby.  
"Oh, how's it going Harrington?" greeted the dog.  
"Chester?" Derby answered. The dog stood up and trotted over to him, flicking his ears.  
"Yeah, you can call me that. Hey, have you seen Chad anywhere? It's breakfast time and I'm _starving_!" Chester asked.  
"How do you know that I'm Derby?" The Akita asked.  
"Easy. You smell like perfume."  
"HA! Derby you wear _**perfume**_?" Peanut laughed loudly from the middle of he group. Derby spun around and curled his lip in his own defense.  
Chester stepped in front of the two dogs and faced Larry with a frown. "I know you as well. You're that kid who always follows the other guy around."  
Peanut's nose twitched slightly.  
Chester lifted his head and growled at him. Peanut growled back.  
Chad's dog ended the growl-a-thon by walking over to Russell.  
"I'd know you anywhere. You're Russell, that huge guy with the muscles."  
Russell's tongue lolled out of his mouth and he nodded. Chester looked around at the other dogs without much interest.  
"So, why are you here?" he asked.  
"We want to know why we got turned into dogs." Bif piped up.  
"Yeah!" Zoe added. "And why can we interact with you?" 

"Oh all these are so obvious!" The prep's dog scoffed, rolling over lazily. "You were changed into dogs so that you would finally learn what friendship was. As for you being able to speak to me, that's easy, I'm a dog and so are you. Any questions?"  
He had said all of this incredibly fast.  
"… What?" Damon mumbled. Chester snarled.  
"If you had listened than you would know."  
"How do we become a human again?" Petey shouted, starting to get worried.  
"When you get along." The real-dog answered. "Now go away, I can smell Chad coming."

All of the human/dogs left Chester's yard with steam practically shooting out of their ears.  
"Well that was a waste of time!" Jimmy growled.  
Suddenly they heard the annoying-dog's voice pipe up something from behind them. All the dogs turned around to see Chester trotting up to them, a kind of dog smirk on his face.  
"I just remembered something!" He harrumphed.

_Johnny's POV_

The prefect had chased him all the way back to the car park. They scattered a bunch of surprised Bullies and nearly got run over by Mr. Hattrick's car.  
"Stupid dog!" The prefect shouted, cornering Johnny, "I got you now! How the heck did you get in here anyway?"  
Johnny growled in his defense, taking a step back. "Back off."  
Prefect held his arms out as if he wanted to grab the cornered dog. 

A German shepherd, even one who is actually a human, does not respond well when cornered. Johnny was no exception.

He barked in rage and leapt at the startled authority figure. The prefect fell backwards and Johnny stamped over him, heading for the fountain.  
"I told you, nobody makes a fool of Johnny Vincent!" The dog yowled over his shoulder.  
When he reached the fountain, ignoring the startled glances he got from random kids, Johnny sniffed around for the other dogs. Their scent led him into Preppy Land. His lip curled with disgust.  
"Oi!" he called, seeing the other dogs all standing in a group with that Prep's dog… Chaser or something.

Russell looked at Johnny and barked a greeting.  
"Hey to you too." The 'King' huffed, "so what's going on?"


	9. And they're off

_Zoe's POV_

"So," Chester stated. "Here's what I was told to…"  
"Who told you?" Bif butted in.  
"Don't interrupt. Anyway, I was told to split you all into groups. So here's what I thought would be best; Petey, you go with Russell."  
Petey's tail went straight between his legs.  
"Ted, you go with Damon."  
Both dogs gave each other a high-paw.  
"Johnny, go with Peanut."  
Peanut wagged his tail and Johnny dipped his head.  
"Derby, I know you'd wanna go with Bif. So you are."  
"Cool!" Bif breathed.  
"And Jimmy, you take the bitch."

"WHAT?" Zoe rumbled. Chester looked up, confused.  
"Uh, yes?" He asked.  
"You called me a bitch!" Zoe spat, her back-fur rising.  
"Um, yes… so?"  
"That is incredibly insulting!" The angry collie shouted again, looking like she wanted to throw Chester over a cliff.  
"Zoe…" Peanut snickered, "A 'bitch' is the female term for a dog."  
Zoe blinked, embarrassed. "Oh… sorry." She shifted her paws uncomfortably. _  
Nice one Zoe._ She thought.  
"**But where does Russell go with Petey**!" Russell hollered, loud enough to wake the dead.  
"I'm trying to remember… Jimmy and Zoe, you should go to Bullworth Town. When I remember where the rest of you have to go, I'll say it. Just get along with each other." Chester answered simply. Zoe thought that Russell had never looked more confused.  
_So we just need to be nice to each other?_ She thought. _That should be easy._

_5 Minutes Later…_

Zoe and Jimmy had said a very odd goodbye to the other dogs after Chester had told them that they should just go explore Bullworth Town, and see it from a dog's eye. That made Zoe burst out laughing, much to the dog's irritation.  
They were nearly out of the school gate when suddenly a brick bounced past Zoe's paw. She gave a yip of surprise and spun around.  
Constantinople or whatever his name was stood like an evil guardian, another brick in his hand. He threw it in Jimmy's direction. It hit the stocky dog in the chest, making him puff out a squished '_OOF!'  
_"Get out of here!" The Constan-something kid screamed, waving his arms. Jimmy naturally wasn't one to take that kind of crap.  
"Bring it!" He shouted, about to run forward when Zoe wrapped her fore-legs around his thick neck.  
"No Jimmy!" she shouted, struggling to hold her boyfriend back, "You don't even know how dogs fight!"  
Jimmy stopped trying to try and murder the kid-whose-name-started-with-'Con' and nodded,  
"Let's get out of here before he finds another brick!"  
Zoe led the way out of the school gate and the two dogs made their way toward the town of Bullworth.

_Ted's POV_

"I just remembered where you all had to go." Chester realized. Everyone nodded at him to go on.  
"Russell and Petey, you go to that Blue Skies Industrial place." Chad's dog continued.  
Russell blinked in confusion but nodded anyway. Pete looked like he was going to throw up.  
"Wh-what if we run into Townies?" He cried.  
"We'll see." Was all Chester said. Russell nodded and started to walk out of the yard. "You coming little pers- uhhh, dog?"  
Pete scampered after the Great Dane quickly.  
_Poor little shrimp._ Ted thought. _He's gonna get creamed at a place like that.  
_"Bif and Derby, go to Bullworth Vale. NOT the rich part, the normal part."  
Derby nodded reluctantly and Bif moaned.  
"Johnny and Peanut go to New Coventry."  
"Yeah!" Peanut cried, bouncing around, "But which part?"  
"Um…" Chester mumbled, stumped. "You can go anywhere."  
Ted thought that Bif looked like he was going to protest about some little thing that didn't matter, but Johnny didn't give him a chance.  
"Come on Peanut. Let's go 'Get Along' as that mad dog told us." The German shepherd sniffed, stalking out of Chester's garden. Larry followed, flicking his ears to the Preppy dog.

"Where do we go?" Ted asked eagerly.  
"You both go to New Coventry as well." The dog answered. "If you run into the other guys, don't think that you can't fight with them. Do whatever you want when you see them."  
"Cool." Damon said, "Let's go Ted."  
Ted bounded out of Harrington House.

_Bif's POV_

"Why haven't you two left yet?" Chester asked, not politely.  
Bif shrugged because he really didn't know. He would go anywhere Derby went.  
"Wait, Derby, I have to return something to you!" Chad's dog shouted suddenly. He turned around and ran into the corner of his yard. He started to dig up the grass and the dirt.  
"Hey, stop vandalizing everything!" Derby yelled.  
"Shush." Chester snarled, still digging. He stuck his nose in the ground and pulled something shiny out of the dirt. Bif saw Derby perk up with interest.  
"I took this from you last year." Chester mumbled into the object he pulled out of the ground. He trotted over to Derby and laid it at his paws.  
It was a golden chain, slightly dirty. It had the Harrington Crest hanging from the chain at one point.  
"Hey!" Derby howled. "I got that when I was thirteen! I thought I lost it last year!" He turned on Chester. "Because of you I earned myself a beating from Father for losing a precious item!"  
"… It was shiny. I couldn't resist taking it."  
Derby sighed in exasperation- which was unusual, because he normally groaned softly. "This is why we don't let animals inside…"  
Bif decided to butt in before it turned into a massive argument. "If you wear that, Derby, the Dog-Catcher will think you have an owner."  
"My point." Chester grumbled. Derby growled something under his breath and picked up the chain with his paw.  
"Help me get this on, Bif." He ordered.  
Bif used his forepaws to drape the chain over Derby's grey and silver neck. The other dog shook his head, chain clinking lightly. Chester nodded with approval.  
"You might want to leave now…" he suggested, "Someone just came out of Harrington House." 

Bif ran out into the main yard with Derby. Whatever Chester had told them to do, it didn't make any sense.


	10. Guardian Russell

_Peanut's POV_

"Hey Johnny?" Larry piped up. Johnny grunted to show he was listening.  
"I think that there was something Chester didn't tell us. I mean, there's probably a much bigger reason behind our transformation then 'To get along.' What do you think?"  
Johnny shrugged, looking around before he stepped onto the road.  
Both dogs were near the bridge that led to Bullworth Town. When they got there, the two dogs would make a right-turn into New Coventry, where they would be able to _'get along.'_  
When Peanut saw that no cars were coming, he bounded onto the road. The tar hurt his paw-pads a little bit, but he didn't stop running until he reached the other side.  
Johnny didn't even stop running. He pelted along the path toward the town. Peanut sighed and followed suite.  
"Johnny, don't tire yourself out." He fretted when he had run alongside his friend. Johnny sniffed with laughter.  
"Larry, we're dogs now. And even if we weren't, we could run a lot further than this." He pointed out.  
"Oh yeah…" Peanut replied, feeling stupid.

In about fifteen minutes the two German shepherds reached New Coventry. Peanut looked around cautiously. They were underneath the railway, and he could hear a train coming. Shaking his head clear of a weird buzzing in his ears he walked on.  
They passed a couple of random Greasers as they walked. None of them took any notice, and Larry couldn't decide whether that was good or bad.  
"Heh, look at 'em all!" Johnny laughed. "They don't even realize that we're the dogs from earlier."  
"Shhhh!" Hissed Peanut. "Stop drawing attention to yourself!"  
"I thought _I_ was the King."  
"Oh be quiet."  
Peanut shoved Johnny with his right shoulder in a way that they did when they were humans. Johnny sniggered and shoved him back.

_Johnny's POV_

After their little shoving match, Johnny looked behind him at his dog's body again. His tail was incredibly annoying, the way it just kept on twitching… it was _too_ annoying!  
"Stupid tail!" Johnny yelled, trying to bite it.  
"The hell?" Peanut mumbled.  
The King chased his tail in a circle, snapping at it. When he finally bit it, he jumped backwards with a yelp and looked around innocently. Larry laughed at him, and Johnny realized that he probably looked like a little kid with chocolate all over their face, wondering what their friends kept on laughing about. His tail twitched again, still hurting.  
"That was fun." He said. And it was true, Johnny had had a lot of fun chasing his tail.  
"Oh suuuure!" Larry scoffed.  
"Try it!"  
"And make my tail bleed? No thank you!"  
"… Touché."

_Petey's POV_

Pete walked awkwardly along one of the many roads in Blue Skies Industrial. After about half-an-hour of coaxing Russell to leave the Nerds alone, they had finally reached the part of town Chester wanted them to go to. But now they were here, what were they supposed to do?  
"Can Russell go to the park?" Russell asked. Petey sighed and stifled a laugh. Ever since they had left the school, Russell had treated Pete like he was the leader. It was kind of flattering at first, but now it was getting annoying.  
"Yes, we can go to the park if…" He replied, but before he'd even finished Russell galloped off in the wrong direction.  
"Russell that's the-"  
"I go the wrong way!" The big dog shouted, doing a U turn and shooting past Pete in the other direction.  
"H-hey! Wait up!" The cavalier yowled, pelting after Russell.

_Five minutes later._"Well here we are." Pete puffed when they reached the park. He had just run about, who knew, a kilometer maybe, trying to make sure that Russell wouldn't get hit by a truck because he was running to fast without looking where he was going.  
Russell ran off in some random direction before Pete could blink.  
_Let him have his fun._ He thought. _He'll probably go and scare a little kid.  
_

Petey wandered around aimlessly, occasionally stopping to sniff the ground, which smelled kind of good. He felt the urge to dig a massive hole and bury stuff in it, but he shooed these odd thoughts away.  
_… Why would I think like that? _He wondered.  
Suddenly a soccer ball crashed into Petey and he rolled sideways from the impact. It really hurt!  
"Aw, look at the little puppy!" A rough voice taunted. Pete leapt up from the ground to see four tough-looking kids heading toward him, all smirking. The leader of the group had a scar across his face that went from his eye to his chin, greasy blonde hair and scars all over his arms. Pete didn't get the chance to see the other people.  
"Teach you to interfere with our game!" The leader shouted, kicking the little dog roughly in the chest.  
Pete yelped with pain and surprise and fell down. The person kicked him again and a high-pitched yowl escaped his mouth before he could stop himself.  
"Stupid puppy! Shut the hell up!" Another kick, this time in his side.  
_Where the heck is Russell?_ Petey thought, shutting his eyes and freezing with pain.  
Think of the devil…

_Russell's POV_

Russell could hear someone in trouble, and he had followed the noise as quickly as he could. Petey was lying on the ground, being kicked by some ugly person dressed in soccer clothes. The dog was obviously in a lot of pain- he kept on whining and howling in pain and anger.  
"**LEAVE MY LITTLE BUDDY ALONE!**" Russell growled, his voice like thunder. Without quite knowing where his legs were taking him, he charged towards the person kicking Petey. The kid looked up from the injured dog and stared in horror at Russell, his face going white.  
"**RUSSELL BITE YOU!**" The Great Dane howled. Russell wasn't lying, he really did bite the horrible kid. Hard.  
"AAH! CRAP THAT HURT!" The blonde person screamed, keeling backwards. Russell stood protectively in front of Petey, his head lowered, shoulders squared, breathing heavily and teeth bared.  
The group of boys ran for it, and he followed.  
"Russell, come back!" Russell heard Pete yowl from behind. But the huge dog didn't want to stop. People who hurt Russell's friends weren't likely to get away with it. Unless if course, the injured person didn't care.  
"Oh for goodness sake, get back here!" Petey shouted again. Russell skidded to a halt reluctantly.

"Is Pete ok?" Russell asked, concerned. Petey nodded.  
"My ribs hurt though…" he mumbled. The small dog started to struggle to his paws.  
"Why did they hurt Petey?" The big dog inquired.  
"I got in the way of their... soccer game."  
"Russell showed them!"  
"Yeah… you did. Thanks for that."  
Suddenly an unknown voice piped up from somewhere behind Petey.  
"That's exactly what you got turned into dogs for!"  
A cocker spaniel was the only living thing in sight.  
"Did you say that?" Pete asked it. The spaniel nodded, getting up from its position on the ground and trotting over to them.  
"I'm Moss." He greeted.  
Russell sniggered quietly.  
"I'm Chester's friend. I know who you are, and I know why you got turned into dogs." Moss continued.  
"Why?" Russell yelled eagerly.  
"So that all of you would learn to do what you, Russell, did with Pete just then."  
"Protect me?" Pete asked. Moss nodded.  
"When you all finally learn to protect each other, no matter how horrible you were before as a person, you'll be a human again."  
Russell wagged his tail. "So will Russell be a human again soon?"  
Moss shifted. "No. You have to do other stuff as well…"  
"Like what?" The Cavalier asked desperately.  
"I'm sorry but I can't tell until you find out for yourself." Moss sighed. He dipped his head. "I'll sniff you later."  
The cocker spaniel bounded away.

_Petey's POV_

Russell and Pete left the park, Petey limping and Russell purposely slowing down to walk next to him. The small dog's ribs and sides hurt a lot, but it wasn't fatal… he hoped.  
"Hey Russell?" Pete asked.  
"What does Petey want?"  
"… Thanks a lot for earlier. I owe you one."


	11. Grey

_Damon's POV_

Ted and him had finally reached New Coventry. Damon was a little bit puffed out, which was surprising.  
"T-Ted?" he huffed, "Can w-we, I dunno, rest for a bit?"  
Ted nodded, panting heavily. The two dogs made sure that they were well away from the road before they flopped down, sides heaving.  
"You remember what Chester said earlier?" Damon asked, tilting his head to look at his partner-in-'getting along.'  
"… Are you going to tell me what he said?"  
"Uh, yeah, that thing about 'if you see the other guys, don't think you can't fight them.' What did that mean?" Damon breathed heavily and rolled onto his back.  
"He probably meant that if we saw the Greaser Dogs, we didn't have to act friendly…" Ted mumbled, copying Damon.

"Oh." The brown Pointer muttered, rubbing his back against the concrete.  
"Damon what the hell are you doing?" he heard Ted snort.  
"My back itches like hell, and I can't reach it with paws like these."  
He kept on rolling around with his eyes shut. It was a very comfortable action.

_Around ten minutes later_

Damon opened his eyes and stopped rubbing his back against the ground, just to find out that Ted had fallen asleep.  
"Oh you have got to be- Stupid dog." He growled, getting up again. Damon was about to wake him up when he realized that dogs _did_ need a lot of sleep.  
_Just come back later._ He told himself. _It's not like anyone's going to attack him while he sleeps._

Damon decided that he wanted to explore New Coventry, seeing as he didn't go there often. He started by crossing a road, but he forgot to look for cars. Damon felt the ground trembled beneath his paws, and without even looking for the car he pelted across the rest of the road, eyes wide. When his paws hit the pavement, he bounced around nervously but nothing else came at him. Shaking his head, Damon continued trotting along the footpath. Everything smelt interesting, even something as simple as the concrete slabs he was walking on. But he didn't have the time to keep on sniffing everything.  
Damon crossed another road, this time looking out for cars.  
On the other side was a bunch of assorted Greasers.  
The Jock-dog tried to ignore them, but the urging in his mind was too great. He stopped walking and stared them down. Normally if he did that they would've backed away by now.

Not this time.

"Aw, cat got ya tongue?" Taunted a red-header Greaser. Damon snarled and lifted his tail.  
"What's this guy's problem?" asked Ricky; Damon only knew his name because of the way he once fixed a bike for him. The Pointer barked angrily at them, he didn't know why.  
"Shut the heck up!" A black, tall kid shouted, throwing a spanner at Damon. It clanged next to his paw.  
_What the hell am I doing? _He thought, shocked at his actions. _Now they think I'm going to attack them.  
_Damon saw one of the Greasers getting closer.  
"Back off!" he growled.  
_Grrrrrrrrr….  
_The red-headed kid stopped coming closer and hesitated.  
"Come on Vance! Afraid of a puppy are you?" The dark-skinned Greaser teased.  
_**PUPPY?**_Damon was no puppy!  
Vance gave a yelp of surprise as the angry dog launched at him. But Damon wasn't interested in Vance, he wanted to prove to the other guy he wasn't a puppy.  
"H- hey look out Norton!" Ricky warned, just in time.  
'Norton' stepped out of the way and Damon snapped down on thin air. It was only then that the dog realized Norton was holding a sledge-hammer. 

"Oh cr-" he began, cutting off when something heavy smashed into the side of his stomach.  
Yelping, he barrel-rolled sideways on instinct and jumped to his paws again. Norton definitely knew how to swing a hammer- Damon was winded badly already.  
"Careful dog, you might hurt yourself!" The dark Greaser warned. Damon lowered his head and lunged again, this time aiming for the handle of the hammer.  
"What the hell are you doing?" a voice barked from behind him. Damon pattered to his feet and turned around. A thin grey dog was looking at him, eyes wide.  
"Hey look out!" She yipped. Damon felt something whack into his hips, sending him flying sideways. He started wondering if he had broken anything yet.  
Norton stalked over to him, holding up the sledge-hammer dangerously. Damon shut his eyes and got ready to black out when he felt something nudging him to his paws. Opening his eyes, he saw the grey dog nosing his feet urgently.  
"Get up you lazy mutt!" She growled. Norton swung his arms back, ready to hit.  
"Run!" The mysterious dog yelped, shoving Damon sideways and pelting across the sidewalk. The hammer hissed past his nose, and he followed.

"Why the heck did you attack Norton for?" The grey dog barked when they had slowed down. Damon was exhausted, and his sides and hips really ached.  
"He… called me a puppy!" he puffed back.  
"So you attacked him? When he had his _HAMMER?_"  
"Well duh."  
The grey dog shook her head sadly, long ears flapping. Damon finally took in her appearance properly; she had greyish brown short fur, pale blue eyes, a stiff tail, and a darker grey stomach.  
"… What breed are you?" Damon asked, trying not to sound rude.  
"Weimaraner."  
"Oh, sounds interesting. What's your name?" he inquired.  
"Grey."  
_Oh how original… _Damon thought sarcastically.  
"And what do you call yourself?" It was Grey's turn to ask questions.  
"Damon West."  
"So Damonwest why are you in New Coventry?" The Weimaraner asked.  
"I got sent here with my friend Ted."  
"Who sent you?"  
"A really irritating dog called Chester. He lives in Bullworth academy."  
"I know him!" Grey barked, her tail wagging, "he told me about you Damonwest. He says that you used to be a human!"  
Damon blinked. _How does word get around that fast?  
_"Yeah, he's telling the truth."  
Grey blinked. "You just did one of the things that you're meant to do if you wanna be a human again."  
Damon perked up. "What did I do?"  
"Stand up to a human. Particularly an armed one. That's real dog-spirit."  
_… What the heck is she on about?_  
"Thanks."

"So Grey…" Damon began, "What's your story?"  
Grey wagged her tail. "I'm glad you asked, no one's done that before." She looked genuinely happy, which made Damon feel more pleased than he had expected.  
"I was born in Blue Skies… the first time I opened my eyes I saw this teenaged boy looking at me. I instantly loved him."  
Damon started to wonder what kind of love she was talking about- friendship love, dog love or… full on 'Love Love.'  
"It was a while ago now, but I think his name was… Edgar or something. Rough looking teen back then, but I grew on him and he grew on me. His friends treated me well and I became a guard dog to them."  
_This is interesting_. Damon found himself thinking. He had never really found any life-story this fascinating. Maybe it was the fact that Grey was a dog?  
"For one and a half years I lived happily with Edgar and his friends." Grey's eyes suddenly misted up.

"… But… suddenly they stopped going to school. They started acting differently, acting tougher. One day I came home from a small walk to realize he had bought a different dog… a massive Doberman complete with massive fangs and a massive spiked-collar."  
Damon, for the first time in his life, felt sorry for someone other than Ted and himself.  
"The Doberman chased me out of Edgar's caravan, and… the boy who I'd actually _trusted_ didn't even bother looking for me. I still stayed in Blue Skies for a bit more, but every time I walked past Edgar's place he was always playing with the other dog or smashing things up. He wasn't good anymore… he'd rotted completely."  
Grey looked up from her paws. "Do I keep telling? You don't look like you caught one word of that."  
Damon nodded madly. "Keep going, come on!" He was really interested in Grey's story now.  
"Okay. So after a bit I decided to stop trying to be Edgar's dog. I ran away from Blue Skies and arrived here. I've lived here since then- I don't need anyone or anything to take care of me. Life on the streets is better than any life you could have with a stinking human!"  
Damon felt a bit put off. Grey realized this, apologizing quickly.  
"And here comes the part I hate telling. One day as I was searching through the trash for food, a person came up behind me. Although I couldn't see him, I recognized his scent- it was Edgar. He started to talk softly to me, and I noticed a long scar on his face. It looked like it was made by a dog fang, and I knew which dog did it- the stupid Doberman he replaced me with. I didn't understand everything my old friend was saying, but I knew he wanted me to come back home with him." Grey lowered her head and closed her eyes softly. "I growled at him and ran away, and I haven't seen him since."

Before Damon could say anything or ask any questions, Grey beat him to it.

"So, can I meet Ted now?" Grey asked. He nodded, and then looked around.  
"Uhm…" Damon began nervously. "I don't know where we are…"  
Grey sighed. "What does he smell like?"  
Damon blinked. _What the…?  
_"Um… he smells… like… Ted?" he mumbled.  
Grey snorted. "I haven't smelled a 'Ted' before. Where'd you leave him anyway?"  
"I don't know, some alley near the entrance of New Coventry." Damon shrugged.  
Grey froze. "W-we gotta find him! Now!" she howled, starting to run east.  
Damon charged after her. "Why?"  
"There's a group of dogs who roam New Coventry! If they see Ted and don't like him, which they won't, they'll try and kill him!"  
Damon widened his eyes. "What kind of a punishment is that?"  
"A bad one! Come on Damonwest, we need to get to him before they do!" Grey shouted.

Damon started to recognize his surroundings. Good, that meant they were probably close to Ted.  
"Hey look out for the car!" He warned, seeing Grey pelt across the road like a mad-woman. The car squealed and swerved to avoid her. Damon admired her skill, but he didn't feel like trying it out. He followed her quickly.

Grey disappeared behind a wall. Damon skidded to a halt, feeling the concrete graze the back of his paws painfully. He panted for a few moments, and was about to run into the alley where Ted was sleeping when he heard a clattering noise, like a trashcan being knocked over. He turned his head and peered into an alleyway next to him.  
_If it was night time._ Damon thought. _I wouldn't even be thinking about checking this place out.  
_A trashcan lid rolled into view. It tempted him to step inside the long alley, and he decided to look around for a bit.  
As soon as he took a few paw-steps into the creepy place, Damon heard a sound like someone rummaging through a bag of silverware.  
He swung his gaze to the left and saw a bunch of silver trashcans. Something was behind them, making a lot of noise. One of the bins closest to the wall ad been knocked over.  
"… Hello?" Damon asked cautiously. He suddenly wished he hadn't spoken.  
A huge dog slunk out from behind the bins. He had brown fur with blonde streaks, black eyes, and huge teeth. He bared his fangs at Damon and lifted his tail, the fur on his back fluffing out.  
"Oh shit!" Damon swore, swinging his body around and pelting out of the alley. He heard a crash and a loud and angry howl, before the sound of rapid paw steps started to get louder and louder.  
Damon didn't know where he was going. He just ran.


	12. Practice

**A/N. I was going to swap over to Johnny and Peanut, but I didn't want you to start falling asleep while wondering whether Damon would get bashed by the evil dog or not xD. So you'll find out when you read, 'k?**

Damon ran out of the alley, ears flying back. The dog he had disturbed earlier was making raspy snarling noises, and his paw steps kept on getting louder and louder.  
Damon suddenly heard a surprised _yip_ coming from somewhere on his left. He turned his head and saw Ted and Grey standing next to each other, both staring. They both had wide eyes and raised tails.  
"Hey man, look out for the road!" Ted shouted.  
Damon swerved along the edge of the sidewalk and darted across the concrete, the other dog still hot on his tail.  
Grey was suddenly running alongside him.  
"Damonwest, you aren't stretching your legs out enough." She urged. "You'll never get anywhere if you run at this speed."  
Damon attempted to stretch his legs- and tumbled over stupidly. He scrabbled on the pavement in an attempt to get back up, but suddenly the vicious dog was upon him.

Ted's head shot up in terror and he darted forwards to aid his friend. As he was about to jump at the dog, Grey head-butted him out of the air.  
"What the heck?" he snarled at her.  
"You don't know how to fight, Ted." She snarled back simply.  
Ted started to get worried. "So we're just going to let Damon fight off that street-dog by himself?"  
Grey sighed. "No, stupid. I'm going to do that." 

Damon swung his foreleg at the angry dog, who had it's teeth in the side of his neck. Suddenly the dog let go and lifted it's head, snarling. Grey was clinging onto it's back with her mouth and paws. The dog shook her off and they stood face-to-face.  
"Back off Grey!" The dog snarled. His voice was raspy, and it creeped Damon out.  
"You first, Diesel." She replied, fur on her back rising.  
Damon could barely work out what happened next, it went so fast. One moment Diesel and Grey were growling at each other, the next minute there was a brown and grey blur scrabbling, yelping and barking on the ground.  
And then Diesel had leapt out of the fray, eyes burning. Grey stood back up, panting.  
The vicious street-dog shook his head, brown-and-blonde fur rippling like a mane, before he pattered off. Ted skittered out of his way, throwing a confused glance over his shoulder at the running dog.

"What was that about?" he asked.  
"Yeah!" Damon added, "It's not like I did anything to him, I just said 'hello.'"  
Grey stopped licking her paw and shot him a glare. "Like all of the other dogs in New Coventry, Diesel hates people."  
Damon blinked. "…But I don't look like a hum-"  
"Maybe not, but you smell like one." The Weimaraner interrupted.  
Ted felt his tail twitch with irritation.  
"But," Damon said, "I could have fought off that dog without your help."  
Ted saw Grey stiffen. She faced Damon, her pale blue eyes burning.  
"Oh yeah?" she growled, "And how many fighting moves do you know?"  
"A lot." Ted lied for Damon. Grey sniffed in disbelief.  
"Show me them." She ordered.  
_Aw crud._ Ted thought, irritated. _She's got us here.  
_Damon shifted his paws. "Well if you're so eager for us to be able to fight, why don't you teach us?"  
Grey raised an eyebrow. "My fighting style is for long-bodied dogs, not short Pointers."  
Ted and Damon both looked behind them at their bodies. Grey was right, their bodies were pretty short.  
"Aw come on!" Damon begged. "Please, couldn't you just give us a tip that we could make a style out of?"  
Grey's eyes softened a bit. "Don't give me those puppy-eyes."  
Ted looked at his friend eagerly to see, and when he did he had to bite his lip to stop himself cracking up. Damon had widened his eyes and they had gone all sparkly—Just like puppy-eyes! For a Jock, even a Jock who was a dog, that was incredibly odd behavior.  
Ted had always thought that dogs couldn't smile, but Grey suddenly proved him wrong.  
"Okay you two, I'll teach you three fighting moves but _that's it_!" she eyed both of them in turn as if to say '_Just try and argue._'  
Ted nodded quickly, side-kicking Damon so that he would too.

_Five minutes later…_

Grey led them both to a quiet alley. She looked like she felt awkward now that she was getting so much attention.  
"Uhhh…" she mumbled. "Here you can… um… oh never mind, one of you attack me."  
Damon blinked and tipped his head down a bit. Had he heard right?  
"Did you just ask one of us to attack you?" Ted asked. Grey nodded.  
"Ted will do it." Damon said, unnecessarily loud.  
"Will not!" Ted yipped, but Grey nodded at him to step forward.  
When Ted was standing in front of her, Grey tipped her head. "Go on, leap at me."  
The white Pointer looked back at Damon, who looked very amused.  
Ted leapt at Grey. He expected to feel dog-fur beneath his outstretched paws, but suddenly Grey disappeared beneath him and he attacked air.  
He turned around to see Grey standing, and looking very disappointed.  
"Kick off harder." She ordered. "You were right in front of me and I had all the time in the world to duck."  
Ted tried again, this time making sure he put more power into his kick. Grey still got out of the way, but this time a bit slower.  
"Better." She said. She pointed her tail at Damon. "Now go sit down. Damonwest, come up here and defend yourself from me."  
Ted and Damon swapped positions. 

"Uh…" Damon muttered.  
"Think fast!" Grey shouted, suddenly throwing herself at him. He fell backwards when she tackled him, and he landed on his back. Looking up, he saw a very unimpressed Grey glaring down at him.  
"I said think fast, not hold perfectly still."  
"Oh gee, sorry for not being a pro defender on my first try!" Damon growled, pushing himself to his paws. Grey took a few steps back and told him that she was going to lunge again.  
"This time, roll onto your back and kick me away."  
Damon braced himself, but he wasn't fast enough. He was on the ground in about two seconds.  
"Oh man, I suck." He mumbled.  
"Damn straight!" Ted laughed from the sidelines.

Grey shook her head sadly. "Maybe we should try something easier…"  
Both of her 'students' looked up eagerly and nodded.

"How did you two fight when you were human?"  
Ted looked at Damon. "Well… y'know, punches, tackles, kicks, elbows-"  
Grey didn't know what the other things he said were.  
"So people don't bite, scratch or body-swing when they fight?" She asked.  
Damon shook his head. "Why did you need to know how we fought?"  
"So I could give you a few moves based on your old technique."  
Ted wagged his tail.  
Grey was staring off into the distance, looking like she was trying to work something out. Suddenly she rose onto her hind legs and started jabbing at the air with her paws. She landed back on four-feet and turned to the other dogs.  
"That could be easy for you, just make sure you brace your legs." She told them, "Go on, try it out."  
Damon and Ted both stood on their hind legs. Damon, who was off balance, fell forwards and Ted, who started laughing, fell sideways into the brick wall. Grey looked really irritated.  
"I said brace your legs!"  
"I don't know what that means!" Ted yelled.  
"You don't know what it… Good god you guys are dumb!" Grey said, not too kindly.  
As she explained what 'bracing' was, Damon decided not to contribute to the arguing for once. Instead he attempted the fighting move again.  
Grey stopped explaining things to Ted and watched. Luckily, Damon didn't fall over, but his jabs were incredibly weak and shaky.  
"Good." Grey dipped her head, before turning back on Ted, "Now you try it."  
Ted tried, but he full on swung his forelegs instead of just jabbing them. He accidently hit Damon over the head, who made a puffing noise and almost fell over. Grey shook her head, but started laughing anyway.  
"Oh gee, sorry." Ted apologized sarcastically.  
"As if you didn't see me!" Damon grumbled.  
"Fff, well if your head wasn't so big then-"  
Ted didn't get to finish because Damon suddenly tackled him. Grey watched in disappointed amusement as they rolled around on the concrete, not biting or scratching, but pounding each other with their paws.  
If that was how humans fought, Grey was pretty damn glad that she was a dog.

"Well that was uncalled for." She stated when the two Pointers had finished their scuffle. Damon had a scrape beneath his eye and Ted's paw was slightly bruised.  
"He started it!" Damon yipped, poking his friend with his paw.  
Ted's lip curled in irritation. Grey held up her paw as if to say '_Don't bite'  
_Suddenly there was a shouting noise coming from around the corner, along with a very loud and familiar voice barking "SCRAMBLE!"  
Damon turned his head in the direction of the noise, and suddenly two dogs charged around the corner. One of them skidded to a halt, but the other one fell into him.  
"Get out of the way!" The dog snarled, jumping backwards. It was only then that Ted and Damon recognized both of them.  
"You were the ones running, oil slicks!" Ted barked. Peanut stepped up beside Johnny and thrust his head out with a growl.  
_Chester never said we weren't aloud to fight,_ Damon thought. _We can take 'em!  
_Ted seemed to read his thoughts, because the next moment he was tackling Johnny to the ground.

**A/N What the cabbage, that was probably the lamest thing you have ever read. Next chapter will hopefully be better.  
Thanks to MadameApathy for her reviews!**


	13. Before and After

**A/N: This chapter is crap.  
Chapter Summary: This chapter is from Johnny and Peanut's point of view before, during, and after their little encounter with the Jocks.  
Warnings: Nearly a character getting hit by car, a neck bite with a bit of blood and lots of doggy-style kicking.  
**

_Twenty minutes earlier…  
_Johnny and Peanut had been wandering aimlessly through New Coventry for about half an hour. They were both incredibly bored.  
"Well…" Peanut suggested, "we could go and see the Tenements…?"  
Johnny sighed and nodded, dark fur on his neck rippling slightly. The two dogs turned slightly to the left and walked in the direction of the Greaser hangout. The pavement was starting to hurt their paws, and Johnny hoped that they would be able to stop soon.  
"Hey Johnny?" Larry asked. Johnny felt one of his ears flick by itself to sow that he was listening.  
"Why do you bite your tail so much?"  
Embarrassed, Johnny laughed nervously. "I don't know! It's kinda fun I guess…?"  
Peanut raised one of his eyebrows and tipped his head to the left. "O…kay then."  
Johnny turned his head from left to right. "Do we cross the road here?"  
Peanut eyed the area carefully. "Yeah, the Tenements are there." He pointed his paw at a run down building.  
"Hopefully they'll welcome us… not grab their rolled-up newspapers." Johnny muttered to himself, stepping out onto the road without looking for cars.  
"AAH! **Johnny watch out**!" Peanut screamed from behind him. Johnny froze in mid-step and swung his head to the right. A gust of wind ruffled his fur, and a loud screech echoed through his ears painfully. A cloud of exhaust billowed around him, then everything was silent.  
Johnny glanced around wildly, coughing in the smoke. His heart was pounding so hard that his ears were vibrating… even though he didn't think that was possible.  
"… Johnny?" called a voice from the sidewalk. The frightened German shepherd spun around, and through the exhaust that was gradually clearing, he saw Peanut staring at him in shock.  
Larry charged over to him and told him to get off the road. Legs shaking, Johnny did as he was told. When they were both back on the sidewalk, Johnny demanded to know what had happened, in a very shaky voice.  
"Well…" Peanut mumbled. "I think you were almost halfway across the road, and I heard something coming from around the corner… I turned my head in that direction and suddenly a car came out of no where, that's when I screamed."  
Johnny's eyes widened.  
"I saw you freeze and… well, I expected you to die. But the car swerved right around you!"  
"Oh my God…" Johnny's legs shook and he nearly collapsed. He turned his head and sniffed his trembling shoulder. He smelt like petrol- well, that was pretty normal.  
Suddenly he had a thought.  
"Peanut you didn't see what kind of car it was did you?" Johnny inquired.  
"I think it was some kind of van thing."  
Johnny felt his heart beat pick up again. "Any pictures or anything on the sides?"  
Larry shook his head. "I didn't see anything detailed… but I saw the initials 'D.P' written on the si—"  
"Dog Pound…" Johnny whimpered suddenly.  
"Uh, what?"  
"Dog Pound, Peanut! D.O.G P.O**-"  
"**I don't need you to spell it for me!" Larry barked, feeling his shoulders tremble. He had seen that dog catcher before. He was a horrible man, all muscle. Any time he saw a dog on the street, he would either shoot it with a tranquilizer or scoop it up in a net. Peanut remembered when he had seen the Dog Catcher simply throw a small bulldog thing into a cage as if it was a rag-doll. Animal cruelty, was what Larry thought of the whole thing.  
And if no one wanted the dogs? They got killed.

"Do you think he saw me?" Johnny mumbled, shifting uncomfortably.  
Peanut nodded, although he hated to admit it. "I'd be surprised if he didn't see you… I mean, you were pretty much walking in front of his car."  
"Okay, okay!" the other dog snapped. Johnny looked behind him nervously. "We should get out of-"  
He cut off as a man suddenly stalked out from behind the corner the Dog Catcher's van had disappeared behind. A dog was at his heels. The dog was _huge_. Tall with black fur, brown forelegs, and brown patches over his chest muscles, he was quite clearly a Doberman. His eyes seemed fully red.  
The man was pretty thin, with muscular arms, a scarred face, a white uniform and a large butterfly-type net in his hands- the net was so big that Johnny could probably fit in it.  
"That's him." Peanut whispered. "That's the dog catcher!"  
"I know… why isn't he doing anything about that dog following him?"  
"Because, Johnny, that's the only dog Joe (I think that's his name) likes. He uses it to chase down other dogs… Dogs like us, Johnny."  
"And…" Johnny's voice thinned out into a squeak when the dog suddenly looked him straight in the eye. "This is where we run, right?"  
Peanut gulped audibly as Joe and the dog stepped forward in unison. "Oh yes, I think it is." He mumbled, sarcastically but urgently.  
The dog catcher's dog drew back it's lips, revealing fearsome, yellow fangs.  
Peanut and Johnny ran for it.

"H-hey Jo-ohnny?" Larry huffed when they had been running for about a minute. Johnny nodded to show he was listening. He didn't want to turn his head incase he saw 'Joe's' dog about to bite into him. The pace he was running at wasn't too fast, but it was certainly a lot faster than it had been when he was a human.  
"I th-think that the dog is…" Peanut searched for the right word, not slowing his pace. "Not very… ugh, what's the word…? Agile!"  
Johnny, despite his worries, turned his head to look at the other German shepherd.  
"I was thinking th-that we could (huff huff) dart into some alley or something and get away from it!" Larry hissed.  
Johnny nodded. "But when will that be?"  
Suddenly a brownish-blonde blur streaked past him. It crashed into Peanut, but didn't even stumble. Peanut tumbled over, a high pitched yowl escaping his mouth. The concrete scraped against his back, head, and nose as he rolled over.  
Larry expected to feel teeth, like knives, sink into some sensitive area of his body, but all he felt was a paw shaking him around. He heard the slightly distant sound of barking and snapping.  
"Peanut, get up and look at this!" Johnny shouted, sounding excited and worried at the same time.  
Peanut scrambled back to his feet… uh, paws, and followed Johnny's stare.  
The thing that had crashed into him, a brown dog with rippling fur and blonde streaks was leaping around and lunging at the dog catcher's dog, who was crouching down and shaking slightly.  
"Hey look, Joe's dog is scared of him!" Johnny barked, his tail wagging. Peanut knew that this wasn't the case- he had seen the dog catcher's dog do this before, and he knew what it was about to do.  
The excited barking coming from the brown dog turned into a choked whine as Joe's dog suddenly lunged for his throat, and when his jaws clamped around their target, he shoved the other dog to the ground. The bigger dog, teeth still buried in the side of the other dog's neck, lifted it's left foreleg and slammed it on the struggling dog's shoulder, pinning it down. The trapped dog's pitiful whines turned into a bone-chilling wail, and blood started to spray out from the rapidly-forming wound in it's neck.  
Johnny took a step back, and felt Peanut shouldering him urgently.  
"Let's get out of here…!" Larry whispered. Johnny tore his eyes away from the disgusting sight and chased his friend across the sidewalk, the image of the dog catcher's dog suddenly lunging for the other one branded in his mind like the sun branded one's eyes.

_That was horrible_. Peanut shuddered as he ran, hearing Johnny's quick paw steps behind him. _That poor dog… _He tried not to think about what would happen to it.  
"Look Peanut!" Johnny huffed. "We'll rest for a bit in that alley over there!" Peanut looked around for a bit until he found the alley Johnny was talking about. He nodded, and both of them turned towards it, still running. Peanut slowed his pace when they had nearly reached it. Johnny, who was now in front, turned his head and was about to blink at Peanut to say _'Maybe now we'll be safe.'_ but for some reason his eyes suddenly widened so much that Larry could see the whites, he turned his head back around so he was once again facing the alleyway, and sped up.  
"What are you…"  
"SCRAMBLE!" Johnny shouted as he disappeared around the corner.  
Peanut leapt after him into the alley. He suddenly saw three other dogs, and skidded to a halt. But Johnny was going to fast, and he fell into a very familiar looking white dog…  
"Get out of the way!" he snarled, jumping backwards in retaliation.

And then Peanut realized why the dogs looked so familiar: They were the Jocks!  
"You were the ones running, oil slicks!" Ted insulted.  
_Oil slicks?_ Larry despised being called that. He stepped up defensively beside Johnny, thrust his head out and growled. He didn't know why, but it just felt like the right thing to do.  
Damon and Ted exchanged a quick glance. Damon nodded slightly, and suddenly Ted had leapt at Johnny, tackling him to the ground._  
_

****"Hey!" Johnny snarled, tumbling over. Ted and him started rolling sideways, forelegs latched onto each other. Peanut yelped and jumped out of the way as they both nearly rolled into him.  
Johnny pummeled his opponent with his paws, but it clearly harmed him about as much as a feather harmed an elephant. He was going to have to do something drastic… in other words, dog-like.  
He locked his paws underneath Ted's forelegs, and rolled onto his back with the Jock on top. Using his back legs, Johnny caught his opponent on the inside of his thighs and kicked him over his head. The Pointer gave a sarcastic 'Weee…' as he flew over Johnny's head and landed roughly on the concrete floor.  
Johnny, feeling very impressed with himself, flipped back onto his paws and turned around. He was about to leap at Ted again, but the sight of Damon on his hind legs caught his attention. The brown Jock was flailing his paws at Peanut, who bucked his head up and down as they stung his face and muzzle. Johnny snarled and edged forwards quietly. He leapt for Damon's back, planning to knock the off-balance dog over, but suddenly something caught his underneath the arms and instead of going forwards, he fell backwards. His back hit the ground and he shut his eyes from surprise and impact.  
When Johnny reopened them, he saw another dog standing over him. She had her front paws pressing underneath his forelegs, and her back legs were on his thighs. Johnny growled and attempted to kick at her, but she had him pinned down so well that he couldn't move his legs. He stopped squirming and gave her his famous glare.  
"Stop fidgeting, German!" the dog pinning him down snapped in his face.  
"German?" Johnny tried to sound annoyed in a deep voice, but when he saw the size of the other dog's teeth all that he could manage was a squeak.  
"We're Italian, not German!" Peanut shouted from his left. The dog turned her head and snarled at Johnny's friend, who immediately shut up. She tightened her grip on Johnny and fixed everyone else with an icy-blue glare.  
"Sit. All of you." She snapped.  
Damon, Ted, and Peanut all sat down reluctantly.  
The dog's actions reminded Johnny of Alpha Female wolves. He took in her appearance for the first time. She had short grey fur, milky blue eyes, floppy smooth ears, and well-muscled legs.  
"Who are you?" Johnny demanded up at her. She pushed her paws deeper into his armpits, and something sharp pricked into his skin, making him yelp.  
"Quit digging your claws in me, lady!" he struggled again, but suddenly his captors face was directly in front of his.  
"Be patient." Was all she said. Without loosening her grip, she looked at each of the dogs in turn.  
"You human-dogs sicken me!" she snarled. Damon lowered his head and pulled his ears back a bit.  
"Just randomly fighting each other… what kind of behavior is that? Did you do that when you were people?"  
"Grey, we kind of did…" Ted mumbled.  
_Grey? _Johnny thought. _That's not a very original name…  
_Grey sighed and glared at Ted. "I don't care… But like Chester told you, you _have to get along_!"

Johnny stopped planning to bite Grey's foot and perked up. "Chester?" He yipped. Grey turned her gaze down on him and nodded, "That Preppy dog? Pale brown fur, ugly face…"  
"That's the one." The female pinning him down interrupted.  
"How do you know what he even said?" Peanut piped up from his position next to Damon. Grey stopped looking so angry and started looking flustered.  
"We all know…" she answered quickly.  
"Who's 'we', _Grey_?" Johnny challenged.  
"Be quiet Johnny." She hissed. She lifted her left forepaw from it's position on his foreleg and pressed it onto his muzzle.  
He shook his head, dislodging her grey paw. "And how did you know my name was Johnny? I never told you!"  
Grey lifted her paw from his face and shrugged, but the interested stares from all of the dogs made her feel uncomfortable.  
She stepped off Johnny, who was finally allowed to move again. He stood up, shaking himself and bit and still feeling the sharp pricks of pain where Grey had stuck her claws in him.  
"Well…" she mumbled. When Johnny was standing, he was a head taller than her. "We specials… we know these things?"  
"…Yee-aah…" Peanut barked. "And can you tell us what a 'special' is?"

**A/N You likeeey? Ooh, little Grey's gone angry on us. That's unusual :D**  
_  
_


	14. Specials

**A/N: I'm not actually writing it in 'POV', Appy, sorry!  
My brain has imploded. I can't think of anything, I've gone too far ahead with the story lol.**

"I'm bored." Derby complained stopping and facing Bif.  
"I know." Replied the dark red dog, ears flicking slightly.  
"Well?" Derby went on, "Going to do anything about it?"  
_What the…? _Bif thought.  
"What can I do?" He asked. Derby shrugged. How helpful.  
The silvery dog gave his head a shake, the chain around his neck clinking.  
"How do you think the chaps are all going without us?" he asked.  
It was Bif's turn to shrug. "Do you want to see them? We're near the boxing gym…"  
"Yeah." Derby nodded. He brushed past Bif, head still held a bit too high. Bif skittered after him, taking in his surroundings carefully.  
They were a couple of roads away from Glass Jaw. Somehow, Bif thought that he could smell the gym- it didn't actually smell as good as he would've expected.

"Oh look." Derby stopped walking and pointed his paw. "It's Parker and Gord."  
Bif nodded, watching the lucky Preps who were still humans. "Hi!" He barked. Gord turned around and stared at him.  
"EW, look Parker! Look at those mutts trying to get our attention!" He shook the black-haired Prep's arm to get his attention.  
"I like the silver one." Parker said. Derby lifted his head higher (somehow) and raised his right eyebrow. Bif rolled his eyes, and wagged his tail slightly at Gord, who was watching him carefully.  
"That dog has Bif's eyes…" he mumbled. Gord took a step forward, holding out his hand. Bif watched, trying hard not to bounce around with excitement. He didn't know why he was so happy that Gord was approaching him- if he did that any other time, Bif wouldn't notice.  
Gord finally reached him, resting his hand on top of Bif's head. His arm smelt nice, Bif found himself noticing. The human-Prep rubbed his chin, which felt very satisfying. Bif suddenly licked Gord's hand before he could stop himself.  
"Oh yuck!" Gord yipped, jumping backwards. Parker looked like he was trying not to laugh, with his hands over his mouth and his shoulders trembling slightly.  
"That dog tried to eat me!" Gord went on, sticking out his tongue in disgust.  
"Bad Bif!" Derby joked, prodding his friend with his paw, "I thought I told you not to eat people!"  
Bif ignored him, tail wagging gently at Gord again, who was wiping his hand on Parker's vest. ("Stop that!")  
"Quit sucking up to them." Derby snapped.  
"You're just jealous." Bif sniffed disdainfully.  
"Jealous, Bif? _Jealous_? Of what?"  
"Of my cuteness." Bif stuck out his tongue at Derby.  
"Yeah, sure! You're about as cute as my dad when he gets drunk!" Derby jumped out of the way as Bif swung his paw at his ear.  
"Ooh, found your sore spot did I?" Derby taunted, jumping around like an idiot. Bif watched with amusement as the silver-grey dog jumped into Parker.  
"Hey! Bad dog!" Parker shoved Derby away roughly, who immediately stopped jumping. Bif noticed his eyes suddenly misted up.  
"Bad?" Derby whined. He turned to Bif, eyes hopeful. "I'm not a bad dog, am I?"  
"Oh my God…" Bif cracked up laughing, tail wagging like a propeller.  
"What?" Derby yipped indignantly, giving his friend a glare. "Stop your silly hooting, you're drawing unwanted attention!"  
Bif swallowed the upcoming fit of laughs and followed Derby's gaze.

A group of Townies were swaggering towards them. Derby made a rumbling noise in his chest, but was shouldered by Bif and shut up. Both Akitas noticed that a Kelpie was trotting by one of the dropouts' side.  
"Well then!" One of the Townies chirped, Duncan probably. "If it isn't the rich scumbags?"  
Parker balled his fists and glared at the three dropouts. The Townies glared back, even their dog seemed to frown at them.  
"Back off, paupers!" Gord threatened, "We're both excellent boxers, y'know?"  
"Maybe you are." Growled a dark skinned Townie called Leon, "But can you beat us?"  
As if to back them up, their dog barked fiercely. Bif stepped in front of Gord and growled at it.  
"Oh look!" Laughed Duncan. "The rich kids have gotten themselves an attack dog!"  
"Shut up, poor boy. We don't know these dogs." Parker shouted.  
"Ooh, someone's certainly very feisty today!" Laughed Jerry, a slightly smaller Townie than Leon. He pushed their dog forwards, giving a small command. The dog leapt forwards, straight for the startled Preps.  
"No you don't!" Derby barked, tackling the Kelpie before it reached Gord. The two dogs toppled over and hit the pavement roughly, rolling on impact. The Kelpie had an advantage to the scuffle—Derby was used to dignified boxing, not rolling around on the floor. His opposing dog was using its _teeth_- Derby didn't quite get the concept of biting, but it really hurt!  
Bif jumped forwards to aid the silver dog. He threw himself into the whirlwind of snarling fur, aiming for the Kelpie. He had tried to aim a swipe at the skinny dog's head, but suddenly his mouth was clamped on its shoulder as it jumped into him.  
"Pah! Pah!" Bif spat out fur, stepping back out of the fight. The Kelpie jumped off the struggling Derby and started to lick its shoulder, all signs of aggression disappearing.  
"Nice fighting for a human!" The Kelpie told them, eying them up and down with amber eyes. It… _He_, had a male's voice. "I'm Jack."  
"Oh, yes?" Derby snarled at him. The Townies and Preps were watching with confusion as the silver dog stuck out his tail and started barking at Jack.  
"Quiet, human!" Jack commanded. He glanced at the angry-looking Townies and the Preps and muttered "Follow me."  
He pattered down the sidewalk, turning his head and nodding at them to come. "Come on! Let's not wait for World War III to start!"  
Derby and Bif exchanged a confused look. "Parker and Gord can handle them." Derby barked, pointing his paw at the Townies before chasing after Jack. Bif had no choice but to follow.

Ignoring the Townies angry yells for Jack to 'get his tail back over there', the three dogs kept running until Jack led them down to beach.  
"Okay, so what are your names?" The Kelpie demanded when they had stopped running and were standing next to Shiny Bikes.  
"I'm Derby, he's Bif. Now how did you know that we're humans, nto dogs?" Derby answered quickly.  
Jack seemed to smirk at them, tail wagging slightly. "I'm a Special."  
"What on earth is a Special?" Bif asked.  
"It's a dog that can communicate with humans… If they want to. They also have a special connection with the Voodoos in this town."  
Derby perked up with great interest. "Voodoos? Are there really Voodoos in this town?"  
Jack blinked at him. "Well, yeah. It was a Voodoo called Esmeralda who transformed you, you know?" His eyes misted over dreamily. "Aah, I love Esmeralda. She's kind to dogs, unlike all the other stinkin' humans in the Vale. She made me a Special, along with Moss, Grey and Hawk."  
Bif's mind was whirling. "Can we see her? Just to visit, and to have a little chat about our transformation."  
Jack moved forwards and licked his shoulder, much to both of the Akitas' confusion. "'Course you can." He answered, backing up and dipping his head. "Follow me." 


	15. Follow Me

**A/N Finally we're back with Jimmy and Zoe in Bullworth town. Enjoyerino!**

"Zoe, I swear that dog was staring at your butt."  
"Jimmy… that's what dogs do."  
"Perv on my girl's butt? I don't think so!"  
The debate had been going on like that for about five minutes. It all started when Jimmy and Zoe, or 'pit bull' and 'collie' as they were probably known as right now, had trotted along the side walk past a big spaniel. Jimmy, who had looked back at him, was certain that the spaniel had started to give Zoe looks.  
"Jimmy…" Zoe stopped in mid-step and sighed, soft eyes rolling. "At least he didn't try to 'shake hands' with me."  
Jimmy stepped up beside her and cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean by that?"  
Zoe's shoulders shook slightly as she giggled quietly. "Dogs supposedly sniff each other's tails to shake hands."  
Jimmy stuck out his tongue in disgust and grimaced. "You know what? Let's avoid every dog we see from now on."  
They resumed walking along aimlessly. If Chester had actually given them instructions, their walk might've been a bit more enjoyable.  
Jimmy frowned slightly as he remembered the Preppy dog's words: '_Just get along with each other_.' They were doing a great job at that already, but nothing seemed to be happening.  
Zoe turned her head to Jimmy, noticing his annoyed expression. She stepped closer and pushed her side against him. He tilted his squashed face to her ear and gave it a lick.  
"Now isn't that sweet!" a sarcastic voice barked from behind them. Jimmy pulled his tongue away from Zoe's ear and spun around. A Bernese mountain dog was standing behind them; front legs wide apart and head raised high.  
"Stay away from Zoe!" Jimmy barked before he could stop himself. The Bernese mountain dog turned up the corners of its mouth and tipped its head to the left.  
"I don't want your bitch. I'm Hawk by the way."  
Zoe spat with disgust. "Do _NOT_ call me bitch!" She leapt at Hawk angrily. He sidestepped her attack and swung his head at her, knocking her out of the air awkwardly. Jimmy barked his angry concern and ran forwards to help. Much to his great surprise, Hawk lunged forwards and grabbed his shoulder in his jaws, forcing him back. Zoe came up behind the Bernese mountain dog and butted his back leg with her head, making him let go of Jimmy and fall over.  
Hawk chuckled as if he was having a great time. "What's up with you two? I though humans liked dogs?"  
Jimmy stopped sniffing his own shoulder and looked up in interest. "How did you know we were humans?"  
"Easy, you still smell like one." Hawk regained his paws and stood, relaxed, tail wagging slightly. "I also know about your transformations. I've been looking for you all morning!"  
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Zoe answered huffily. She stepped up next to Jimmy.  
Hawk rolled his amber eyes slightly. "You're forgiven." His tail swung in a circle. "And now I've found you…"  
He suddenly leapt forwards and tackled Jimmy, who fell backwards and nearly squashed Zoe. The collie yipped and pattered out of the way as the two male dogs rolled around on the concrete, one of them snarling and the other one laughing. Hawk managed to roll Jimmy over and pinned him down, tongue out.  
"You need to do better than that, Jim!" Hawk snickered, stepping off the struggling pit bull. "I won't be the last street dog to attack you."  
"How'd you know that my name's Jimmy?" Jimmy asked, clambering off the floor.  
"Don't tell me." Zoe had interrupted Hawk's answer. "You can smell people's names?"  
Hawk shook his head as if he had been asked that question before. "No way! Esmeralda told me!"

Zoe blinked. What the heck was an Esmeralda? Jimmy looked like he thought the same thing.  
"Who said what?" Jimmy mumbled.  
"Uh, _Es-mer-al-da?_ The greatest person who's ever lived?" Hawk answered.  
"Who is she and why is she the greatest?" Zoe asked.  
"Esmeralda is a Voodoo who lives in Bullworth Vale. She is the greatest, dear Zoe, because she's…" Hawk lowered his voice and leaned in slightly. "_Magic_."  
Jimmy and Zoe both snorted in unison and started to laugh.  
"Pff! There's no such thing as magic!" Jimmy pointed out.  
Hawk tipped his head and raised his brown eyebrow. "Honestly," he sighed in exasperation. "I would've thought that people were a bit smarter than this. If there's no such thing as magic, how did you wake up as dogs? Scientific failure? Your grandparents were dogs? You were raised by wolves? Go on, tell me."  
Jimmy shifted slightly, and Zoe stopped laughing at once.  
_That guy's got a point… _she though, taken back slightly.  
"That's what I thought." Hawk barked in self-approval. "Now will you listen?"

"Yep." Jim nodded, and saw out of the corner of his eye that Zoe had dipped her head as well.  
"Goodie!" Hawk yipped. "Follow me please." He turned around and began to walk back up the path.  
"But we were just there!" Zoe barked at him. He turned his head and claimed that he knew.  
"Are you going to come, or stand there like startled kittens?" Hawk challenged. Jimmy and Zoe reluctantly skittered after him, slowing down when they were a meter behind.  
"This dog is really smart." Jimmy whispered to Zoe.  
"Oh, really?" Zoe asked sarcastically.  
"… But if Esmeralda is a person, how can he understand her?"  
"I'll ask." Zoe raised her voice. "Hey Hawk? How can you understand Esmer… what's-her-face?"  
Hawk stopped walking and turned back around. "I was made a Special."  
"… What the hell is that?" Jimmy demanded.  
Hawk grumbled, "A dog who can understand human speech and talk to people IF THEY WANT. Now can we keep going?"

_Five minutes later…  
_  
"Hey wait!" Zoe barked suddenly. "Where are we even going?"  
"To the Vale. Esmeralda would like to meet you." Hawk answered over his shoulder. He looked around. "We should be there soon."  
All three dogs trotted sidelong a road that lead directly to Bullworth Academy.  
"Hey look!" Zoe cried, pausing. "It's our school." She ran up to the gates but didn't enter (people wouldn't find it normal if a dog randomly ran in). Jimmy and Hawk stepped up beside her.  
"This is where you two learn?" Hawk asked. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Horrible looking place."  
"I'm king of this _horrible looking _place." Jimmy barked indignantly. That coming from such a stout dog as Jimmy was looked absolutely ridiculous. Hawk snorted with laughter and nodded.  
"Uh-huh." He woofed sarcastically. Zoe frowned at him again. She was liking Hawk less and less by the moment.  
"No really he is!" she insisted. Hawk rolled his eyes but nodded anyway.  
"Well, are you gonna be able to keep up with me?" he asked. Jimmy and Zoe looked at each other and nodded. Hawk turned right and started to run up the path that lead sidelong the road to Bullworth Vale. "Come on then! Let's not wait for the stars to shine!"  
Zoe frowned at the running Hawk, but started after him anyway. Jimmy grumbled something and bounded up besides her.  
"This dog is mental." He growled quietly. 


	16. Just be Cute

**A/N: Yippee… It's Pete and Russ.**

The massive Great Dane called Russell and the tiny Cavalier called Petey had actually had quite a good time exploring the Blue Skies Industrial Plant. Neither of them had been there much, and it was especially interesting seeing it from a dog's point of view.  
Petey's attitude had changed a fair bit since Russell had gotten him out of trouble. He had started acting a bit braver, feeling that if he did get into trouble, Russell would be able to bail him out of it.  
"Hey Russell?" he piped up. Russell stopped sniffing everything and looked down at him.  
"If we get hungry, what are we supposed to eat? I don't feel like looking through garbage right now…" Pete stuck out his tongue in disgust.  
Russell screwed up his face in thought. "Well—" he began.  
"I can help you there."  
Moss suddenly stepped out from a clump of grass, ginger fur flowing nicely. Petey jumped.  
"Where you come from?" Russell barked in confusion. Moss seemed to grin at them as he moved closer. "Never mind. I suddenly remembered that my instructions were to stay with you…"  
_Great job. _Petey thought sarcastically.  
"…and teach you how you can make your lives as dogs a little easier. Seeing as you don't even know how to get any food or anything, or where the nice people live and—"  
"Hey, slow down!" Petey barked, noticing Russell's dazed expression.  
"Ok…" Moss repeated his rant in an incredibly slow and deep voice. Russell yelped with amusement.  
"Got all that?" The cocker spaniel asked. Petey nodded, but Russell was far too busy scratching himself behind the ear to notice.  
"Oh good!" Moss yipped. "Come on, I'll show you!"

Moss led Russell and Petey across the caravan park where two Townies stood around.  
"Now watch carefully." Moss ordered, suddenly strutting away from the other dogs and heading for the Townies. He reached one of them and started to rub himself against the Townie's leg.  
"What the…" Pete mumbled in confusion as the Townie, instead of kicking the dog away, crouched down and started stroking him. Moss shot them a wink through the person's arms. He came trotting back over to Petey and whispered; "Now you try Pete. Just act cute."  
"Wh-what?" Petey cried as Moss nosed him forwards.  
_Act cute? _He thought in irritation. _Where's that supposed to get me?  
_"Go on!" Moss growled impatiently, giving Pete another nudge. The cavalier stumbled forwards and threw a glare over his shoulder at Moss. Petey, trembling slightly, walked towards the Townie group and halted next to the same one who had petted Moss.  
"Hey look, Edgar!" The person cried. "Another dog!"  
Edgar tilted his head at Petey and nodded, not looking interested at all. "Yeah? I don't recall ever wanting to find a small thing like this, Clint."  
Clint shifted. "Yeah well… maybe it'd be best if you hurried up and got over losing G…"  
Edgar suddenly shot Clint a glare and balled his hands into fists. "Shut up." He interrupted, curling his lip and looking a lot like Russell when he had bitten the kid earlier. Edgar looked like he really _was_ going to bite Clint. Pete decided to step in and interrupt before it happened.  
He lifted his incredibly flag-like tail and beat Edgar's leg with it. The lead Townie blinked and looked down.  
"Good on you!" Moss barked from somewhere else, probably with Russell. "Keep it up, Peter!"  
The smaller black and white dog gulped, hoping for dear life that he wasn't going to get a foot swung at him again. He pressed the side of his furry body against the Townie's leg again, winding himself through them and trying not to freak out and make a run for it.  
"What is Petey doing?" Russell rumbled. Pete turned his head and saw that the massive animal was starting to stalk forwards.  
"No!" Petey yipped, still rubbing himself against Edgar. "Stay there! Everything's under… control." He lied.  
Russell looked doubtful and confused (he always did) but sat down anyway.  
Edgar made an oddly soft noise and crouched down, roughly stroking Pete's head with his dark hand, making the dog's eyes bulge.  
_Ow. _The dog thought, but forcing a happy expression.  
"This dog's alright, isn't he Edgar?" Clint asked cautiously. Edgar muttered something in reply and started to scratch Petey's back gently.  
"Okay, now this is getting… Aah…" Pete arched his back into the Townie leader's hand, shifting slightly. Edgar laughed slightly.  
_Never… _Petey thought, _Never would I have expected that Edgar liked dogs!  
_"Oi Petey!" Moss woofed. "That should be enough now!"  
The little dog reluctantly broke away from Edgar and trotted back to Russell and the cocker spaniel.

"Can Russell try too?" Russell asked. Moss gave him an oddly lopsided look of doubt.  
"Uhm…" he mumbled, "That's going to be pretty hard. It'd be kind of odd if you just strutted up to them and began to rub yourself against them… You might knock them over."  
Russell whined audibly, which made Clint and Edgar shoot him very confused looks.  
"Russell can do it!" the Great Dane was throwing a doggy tantrum. "Russell won't knock them over!"  
Moss stuck out his neck and gave the much-bigger dog's shoulder a lick, which was probably supposed to be comforting. Instead, it looked to Petey like Russell didn't enjoy it at all.  
"What was…?" Russ began.  
Moss grumbled, "I forgot how little you know."  
"Gee, thanks." Pete said disdainfully.  
"Well, unlike humans, who put their paws on each other's shoulders or tackle them, dogs lick the other dog's right shoulder to comfort him or her." Moss made it sound like anyone should've known that.  
"Humans don't have paws!" Russell corrected.  
Petey finished for him, "They're called hands, not paws. And I think that the 'tackling' you were talking about is called hugging."  
"Oh. Cool." Moss didn't sound truthful at all. "Well anyway, good job on acting cute there! Try that with humans who are holding food and you'll be well fed in no time!"  
Russell, who was dozing off while sitting up, was brought back to earth suddenly. "Really?" he barked, "We get food from people by acting cute?"  
Moss seemed to grin at him. "Ohh yeah. You wanna try it out?"  
Both dog/humans nodded eagerly, and leapt after Moss as he turned around and galloped off.


	17. Runaway

**A/N.** **CONTAINS BLOOD. AND CHARACTER DEATH.**

A loud siren echoed throughout the asylum. An Orderly sprinted through the hallways, a syringe in his hand. He halted next to room 355, cautiously placing his hand on the doorknob. He gulped, before turning the knob and opening the door.

His scream echoed through the hall as a massive black dog suddenly leapt through the doorway, green eyes glittering with malice. Its jaws clasped around the Orderly's neck, and his scream was cut off as the huge fangs disappeared into the jugular. He toppled over backwards and the dog released him, taking a step back.  
"I've always wanted to do that…" the dog hissed quietly. It lifted its massive paw to its face, wiggling the sharp claws with great interest. "Nice…"  
The dog leapt over the dead body and pelted through the halls. Other Crazies stared through their door windows at it, mouth and eyes wide open.

The doors leading out of the Asylum were no match for the dog's awesome charge. They swung open easily and it ran out into the garden, barking manically. Crazy people rolled out of the way, screaming, and Orderlies struggled to keep everyone calm.  
"Get out… got to get out." The dog muttered, turning in a circle on the spot, paws slipping slightly. "Aah!"  
Its green eyes came to rest on the tree that many people had managed to escape by.  
"How can I escape up a tree…?" the dog wondered aloud, not noticing the Orderlies closing in. The huge animal looked around, noticing a bit of fence that was a fair bit lower than the other bits.  
_I could jump that. _It thought. The dog crouched down for a moment, before leaping forwards (running over an Orderly) and galloping straight for the fence. It bunched up its hind legs and flew upwards. The dog cleared the fence easily, landing on the other side without even stumbling.  
It drew back its lips, revealing its teeth, dripping with blood.  
"No one holds me back…" the dog vowed. "Not until he's finished. Not until I have my revenge."  
It turned its head back to the asylum, wrinkling its muzzle with disgust. "You made sure I was trapped in there for months… Now it's time to get you back." The dog lifted its head to the sky and howled viciously. It bounded forwards once it was done, heading through the tunnels.  
"Bullworth here I come." The dog rumbled. 


	18. Thieves of Food

_Somewhere near half an hour earlier…_

"… Woah. Special's sound pretty interesting." Ted breathed as soon as Grey finished speaking. The Weimaraner nodded, pleased with the reaction.  
"How did this E… Esmer…" Peanut could barely even pronounce the name. "What was it again?"  
"Esmeralda?" Grey asked, a bit annoyed that he had already forgotten.  
"Yeah her. Anyways, how did she make you… you know, be able to talk with people?"  
Grey opened her mouth to answer, but Johnny beat her to it. "Oh that's obvious." He barked. "She waved a magic wand!"  
Everyone, apart from Grey, let out high-pitched barks of amusement. She had to swipe her paw at Johnny's head to make everybody shut up.  
"I don't even know how she managed it…" Grey shrugged as soon as there was silence. "I've asked, but she's never answered."  
"Hey Johnny?" Ted spoke up suddenly. "Why'd you shout 'SCRAMBLE' as you were running into this alley?"  
Johnny seemed to suddenly remember something. "Wait here." He ordered everyone. He turned around and darted towards the opening that they had run through. He poked his head around the wall and looked around, before coming running back to everyone.  
"The Dog Catcher's van was coming around the corner, but he's gone now obviously." Johnny answered at last. Grey jumped.  
"Did you say 'Dog Catcher?'" she yipped. Johnny nodded.  
"He didn't… get anyone did he?" she asked.  
"Yeah he did!" Peanut answered. "Some brown dog with blonde streaks."  
Grey whined softly. "Dammit! He caught Diesel?"  
Ted and Damon both perked up and exchanged interested looks. "The one who attacked me?" asked Damon.  
"Yeah…" Grey lowered her head and shook it in sadness. "That guy and his mutt, Demon, have been picking off nearly all of my friends. Only the strongest prevail here."  
Damon laughed slightly. "You sound just like Mr. Burton." He did a great imitation. "_Much like real life, the strongest will prevail!_"  
Ted, Johnny and Peanut all laughed along with him, but Grey didn't. "Mr. Burt was right about that," she snarled. "Only the strongest _do_ prevail here."  
"Burton." Johnny corrected, making Grey narrow her pale eyes at him.  
"You know Johnny?" she snarled. "I really don't think we'll get along well."  
Johnny was slightly taken back. He grumbled a reply, but couldn't be bothered starting an argument with the stubborn female.

_Present moment…_

Damon trotted next to Ted as they followed Grey along the sidewalk. Johnny and Peanut had been sent off on their way, which made Grey seem a lot nicer all of a sudden. But he couldn't help but wonder, what was the point of being here if they had no proper reason?  
"Grey, where are we going?" Ted demanded.  
"We're going to get food."  
"Really?" Damon barked excitedly. To be truthful, his rumbling stomach had been getting a little scary lately.  
"Yes really," Grey replied. "And no, we won't be looking through garbage right now. I don't think humans usually do that."  
"She's right there." Ted muttered out of the corner of his mouth to Damon.  
Grey suddenly halted near some restaurant with a couple of people eating at tables outside. "Smells nice, doesn't it?" she asked, noticing the other dog's expressions.  
"Here's what you have to do; go up to someone who looks like they can spare you some food, and beg from them." She continued.  
"Beg?" Ted spat. "No way! We don't _beg_ for anything!"  
"Well okay, go hungry if you want." Grey shrugged as if it didn't matter.  
"Wait!" Damon shoved Ted, nearly knocking the other dog over. "We'll beg but… how?"  
Grey smirked at him. "Ooooh, I can't tell!" she snickered. "Just go try it out." She head-butted him forwards.  
Damon didn't bother looking back—he knew that Ted was probably rolling around on the floor and laughing at him. "Here goes…" he hissed stepping up next to quite a pretty lady who was eating something that smelled very good. Damon didn't now what to do now he was in the right place. Did he hold up his paws or give her puppy eyes?  
"Hello there dog!" a cheery voice greeted him. He looked up to see the woman smiling down at him, showing very white teeth.  
"Hello!" he barked back, making her laugh.  
"Are you going to beg or what?" Grey yelled.  
"Oh yeah." Damon didn't know why he did it, but he suddenly sat up on his haunches and lifted his forelegs off the ground, bending them in front of him and trying his best to look cute.  
"That's cute!" the lady giggled. She tilted in her chair until she was fully facing him. "Lie down!" she ordered jokingly.  
Damon placed his paws back on the pavement and blinked. She wanted to play it like that then?

"Bring it." Damon whispered, lying down. The lady seemed genuinely surprised that a wild 'dog' had actually obeyed her command. "Uhm… sit?" she ordered, sounding more like she was asking a question. Damon, barely taking his eyes off her, sat back up.  
"Woah…" the woman looked down at her food then back at Damon. "Play dead." She told him.  
Making things a bit more interesting than your usual 'play dead' thing, Damon reared back onto his hind legs, staggered in a full circle, and collapsed. Nearly everybody who was eating outside stared at him.  
Getting sick of the act, Damon scrambled into standing position and hissed in a sweet voice "Give me all your food or else."  
"I've gotta check whether the waiter owns you…" the lady pushed out her chair and stumbled inside, throwing a shocked look over her shoulder.  
Grey galloped up next to Damon and barked "Okay, now steal all of her food!"  
Ted walked casually up next to the other two. Damon stared incredulously at Grey. "Steal all her food?"  
"If you're going to wimp out, I'll do it before she gets back then!" Grey leapt up onto the woman's deserted chair, grabbed something off her plate, and came back down again. "Go on!" she ordered into the croissant she had snatched. "Take something!"  
Ted and Damon both stared at each other in confusion, before Damon grabbed the person's plate with his teeth and bringing the whole thing with him as they both pelted after Grey.  
Whoever says that getting food from humans is fun has no idea what they're on about.


	19. Esmeralda the Normal

**I know that a few places here don't exist, but oh well; now there is. **

Derby, Bif and Jack trotted along the path, stepping around confused people and avoiding the road as well as they could.  
"Hey, are we nearly there yet?" Bif grumbled, getting bored of walking.  
"Yes!" Jack seemed very excited about showing them to Esmeralda. "She lives not far from here, near a forest."  
The houses were thinning out, and the road seemed to look a bit more like gravel than tar. Less people were on the sidewalk, and more trees started to pop up.  
"It smells nice here." Derby said. Bif stared at him. Did Derby just say that something SMELT nice?  
Bif, instead of laughing at the other Akita, inhaled deeply. Derby was right—it smelled… how could he put it, clear and earthy, with a faint perfume of either Derby's fur or flowers.  
"Ok dogs, now just keep following me." Jack barked, turning left into a track that led away from the road and up into a meadow. All three dogs bounded through the grass. Derby started laughing for no particular reason, which made Bif and Jack exchange a very confused glance.  
"You ok there Derby?" Bif asked.  
"The grass tickles my feet." Derby _did_ seem to be leaping higher than the other two, as well as randomly snickering.  
"What're 'feet'?" Jack asked curiously.  
Not quite feeling up for explaining everything, Bif just said "He tried to say paws, but… he didn't."  
"Oh, understood." Jack woofed back, picking up his pace as they all ran through the glade. Bif's massive paws weren't helping him to keep up—he nearly fell into Derby about a hundred times.  
"Stop!" Jack hollered suddenly, pressing his rear into the track and skidding to an undignified halt. Derby, who was still running too fast, tripped over him and did some type of somersault, but Bif managed to stop in time. Derby jumped back up quickly and acted as if nothing had happened.  
"Esmeralda lives through there." Jack pointed his nose to another path, this one leading right into the trees. At the end of the path was the unmistakable shape of a house. "Come on!" 

All the dogs, tails wagging slightly (apart from Jack's, which was wagging like a hyper fan) raced up the path towards the house. Once they were at the entrance, Jack strutted up to the door and pushed the door bell with his nose. A very odd tune floated up from the house and the door swung open.  
Whatever Derby and Bif had expected Esmeralda to look like, it wasn't what they got. They had both expected to see some wild lady with green hair that stuck in every direction know to mankind, wearing some flowing green dress and holding a crystal ball.  
However, Esmeralda looked... well, normal.  
She looked quite young and had red hair that came down about an inch below her shoulders. Her eyes were green and she certainly wasn't holding a crystal ball.  
"Jack!" she cried in a perfectly normal voice. "How are you darling?"  
She crouched down and gave Jack, whose tail was wagging so madly that Derby was surprised that he hadn't been blown away by the winds it made yet, a tight-looking hug. Esmeralda then looked over Jack's shoulder at Derby and Bif, who were standing awkwardly a little way off.  
"Derby!" Esmeralda let go of Jack and held out her hand to the silver dog. "Good to see you!"  
Derby cautiously put his paw in the woman's hand and she shook it warmly, grinning so brightly that he could have gone blind. She gave him back his paw after about a million years and turned to Bif, who was positively backing away by now. "Bif my darling doggy!" she cried, making the red Akita lower his head with great embarrassment. "How's boxing going for you?"  
"How did you…" Bif was cut off when Esmeralda grabbed his face and shook it affectionately.  
"Now then…" she said, returning Bif's face to its rightful owner, "Why are you all here?"  
Jack answered "The dogs want to know why they're no longer humans."  
"Chester didn't tell you too well did he?" Esmeralda tsked in mild irritation. "Well, come inside and I'll tell all of you… oh, who's that?"

The three dogs and the one human all turned to the path where three other shapes were racing up at them.  
Out of the shadows burst a Bernese Mountain dog, followed by Jimmy and Zoe, who were all panting like there was no tomorrow.  
"Well (hu-uff) I wouldn't call that a 'short' trip, H- (huff) Hawk!" Jimmy puffed, doubled over to regain his breath. Zoe's chest was heaving as much as his, but she kept her head up.  
Hawk, who must've been the other dog, panted and nodded, before trotting over to Esmeralda and rubbing his big face against her side.  
"Hawk, my warrior!" Esmeralda (once again) went totally mad with greetings, picking up the Bernese MT. dog's front paws and doing some type of dance with him— much to everyone's great amusement, including Hawk's. Once she had set his paws back down again, she jogged over to Jimmy and Zoe, pulling them both into a hug.  
"It's good you could come, my friends!" Esmeralda gave both of the dogs a squeeze which probably knocked all the air out of them before she stood before all six dogs.  
"Why don't you all come inside?" she offered. "Jimmy and Zoe, you both look tired. Hawk and Jack, you need your rewards. Derby and Bif… hi. Now come in, come in!"  
Esmeralda opened the door and politely said "After all of you."  
Every dog stepped through her doorway into the weirdest house they had ever seen. 


End file.
